Rock You Like A Hurricane
by SeriouslySkullFlap
Summary: Addison's sister shakes up Seattle Grace as she shows up unexpected with a surprise for everyone.
1. Chapter 1

Meredith Voice Over:

Life is tricky, there are so many bumps in the road that you have to overcome just to get through every day life, and just when you think that everything is finally normal something always seems to happen to rock it all out of balance all over again.

Thunder claps and there is a big bolt of lighting, no rain. Allison is wearing a short black skirt with high black boots and a burgundy v-neck low cut top. She stands tall because she is confident, too confident for her own good. She takes a deep breath as she walks towards the door of the hospital. She walks in and takes a seat as she composes herself. She has a very serious/very nervous look on her face and just staring forward at all times as if she's in a trance. George sees her from across the room and is intrigued; he walks over to her and sits down in the chair next to her. "Hello, uh, is there something I can do for you? I mean, you don't seem to look like there is anything wrong but I am a doctor so if you need my help, I am your man….I am babbling, I'm sorry," George says, feeling more and more like an idiot as each word leaves his lips.

"Yeah…babbling…I am looking for Addison." Allison says, barely even paying attention to George, she is too lost in her thoughts to pay attention to anything but herself, that's always her way anyway.

"Oh you're looking for Addison. Follow me." They stand up and Allison follows George to the nurse's station. "You can wait here for her. So I…" Dr. Bailey sees George from down the hallway and stops in her tracks.

Bailey screams from down the hall to George, "O'MALLEY! Stick your tongue back in your head and let's get moving."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey, coming!" George scurries away and Allison leans on the desk waiting for Addison. Addison comes out of a room and spots Allison and starts to walk in the other direction as she rolls her eyes. Allison walks fast to catch up.

"Oh come on Addison, don't walk away. You haven't forgiven me yet?" she says as she dodges doctors and nurses who step in her way from catching up with Addison.

Addison quickly turns around to face Allison. "I have nothing to say to you. You need to go back home. What's your problem? What made you think to come all the way out here when you know it will cause problems?" Allison turns to the side to show that she is pregnant.

"I need your help, Addy," Allison says as she puts her hands over her belly.

Meredith, Izzie, George, and Cristina are following Dr. Bailey through the hospital to go to their next patient. George says in a whisper, "I saw a girl, she's pretty, and I think she knows Addison."

"Then she can't be bringing good…It's not a good sign. We should probably stay away, sorry George," Meredith replies.

Cristina adds, "Yeah seriously, George, no need to get involved with other people's drama."

"How do you know there will be drama?" he asks. Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina just look at him. Like he really needs to ask that question. She can't be bringing anything but trouble with her from New York, it's what they do. They don't even need to use words before George understands, "Good point."

Bailey speaks up as they walk into a patient's room, "Ok who can tell me what's going on with this patient?"

Cristina steps forward to present, "Jeffery Miles, 25, has a tumor behind his right ear that showed up on a CT. Patient was in a car crash and smashed the whole right side of his head. The tumor is growing rapidly and is becoming dangerous to his health, Dr. Shepherd will be operating."

Bailey continues, "As will Dr. Sloan. Yang, you will scrub in with Dr. Shepherd. George you will be in the PIT and Stephens will be shadowing you today. Grey, you will be with Dr. Montgomery. Karev, Dr. Sloan has requested you today."

Alex sounding disappointed, "Of course he has." He pauses to take in what was just said to him, "Wait, did you just say surgery?" He smiles really big, finally an opportunity to show Sloan what he knows.

Addison and Allison are in Addison's office. Allison's head is hanging low and Addison is standing in the doorway as Allison is sitting down. "I have not forgiven you so don't even think that the fact that I am talking to you right now means I forgive you because I Do Not," Addison says, she can't even look at her sister she is so frustrated with her.

Allison snickers, "Get over yourself, I am here only to make mom happy. I did not want to fly across the country to get yelled at by you."

"Let's just cut to the chase, whose is it?"

"That's part of the reason why I am here," Allison pauses, "I don't know. Well, I am unsure. It's between two people. Can you get the paternity test done if I bring you the guys?"

The more Allison talks, the more annoyed Addison gets with her, "Who are they, Allison?"

Allison is really trying to avoid answering the question at all costs, she is still not ready to face her sister's wrath, "You're not going to like my answer."

Impatiently Addison says, "Just tell me."

Allison mumbles, "It's either Derek or Mark."

Addison opens the door of the room points outwards. She yells, "Get out of my hospital and out of my life, I have had enough of you."

Allison just walks out of the room and passes Meredith, George, Izzie, and Cristina who were walking by. George follows her with his eyes. Addison storms out of the room, slams the door and storms down the hall.

Meredith, Cristina, George, and Izzie all say at the same time, "Drama."

Derek is getting off the elevator while Meredith waits for him. Meredith stops him. "I knew I would find you here. I am going to describe someone to you and let's see if you know who I am describing." Meredith says as she leans on the wall.

Derek smiles as he says, "Ooo I love guessing games. I am really good at them."

Unfazed by his attempt at cuteness or humor or whatever he was trying to do replies, "I am sure you are. Ok here it goes. Female, short-ish, dark hair, green eyes…"

Derek interrupts as his smile turns into a frown. "Stop right there, I know who it is."

"Wow, you _are_ good."

Derek is now almost in a daze. She is the last person he would have expected to see ever again. Could she really be back in Seattle? "Yeah…I'll talk to you later, I have to go." Derek starts walking away quickly.

Meredith is puzzled at his reaction and a little annoyed that he would just walk away like that, "Aren't you going to tell me who it is?"

Derek turns around as he's walking and says, "Addison's sister." Derek turns the corner and Meredith just stands there with her mouth open.

"Just what I expected, more drama." Meredith turns around and walks back to meet up with Addison, Cristina goes to find Derek while George and Izzie go to the pit.

Meredith walks into the room where Addison is sitting at a desk with her hand on her head with a blank stare. She is determined to get to the bottom of whatever is going on.

Addison notices Meredith has joined her and says, "Congratulations, Dr. Grey, today you are not the person I dislike most that is in this hospital."

Meredith nervously smiles, "Well I appreciate that, Addison, uh, Dr. Montgomery. What did your sister do that is so terrible?"

Addison very cryptically says, "Allison knew better, you didn't."

Meredith is now totally confused and almost regrets even bothering finding out, "O-K. Wait a minute, Addison and Allison? Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Addison and Meredith both break out into laughter. As she's laughing Addison manages to blurt out, "It's so corny isn't it?"

"Yeah it kind of is," Meredith agrees as she tries to compose herself. They continue to laugh as Derek walks in.

Derek is stunned to see his girlfriend and ex-wife together, let alone laughing with each other, "I obviously have stepped into the wrong dimension." Addison and Meredith both smile.

Izzie and George are waiting in the pit for ambulances; it's a pretty slow day. There was not much going on. George is sitting on a gurney and Izzie is sitting on a stool facing him. "You can't have a thing for Addison's sister, George, you know that right?" Izzie says.

George looks up at her and says, "I know, but there is just something about her that I can't get out of my head. Don't tell Meredith, ok?" By this point Cristina had walked over to them.

"We can't tell Meredith what?" Cristina asks.

"That he has a crush on Addison's sister," Izzie reveals without second though. George looks quickly to her in anger.

"Oh George," Cristina shakes her head in disgust, "Well talk to you kids later." Cristina walks off to find Burke. She sees him by the operating board talking to a woman. She ducks behind a corner to see what they are doing. They are both laughing. She gets a mean scowl on her face, she is not happy that Burke is laughing with another woman. He sees her from down the hall. Who is that woman with him and why are they so close together?

Burke sees Cristina and yells out to her, "Cristina!" Cristina reluctantly walks over to them. "This is my best friend from college, Skylar."

Not realizing she started to think out loud Cristina snaps, "Is that even a real name?"

"CRISTINA!" Burke yells.

"Oh I'm sorry, was that out loud?"

"It's ok, Prest," Skylar says as she puts her hand on his arm, Cristina follows her hand with her eyes.

Cristina needs to get out of there before she winds up in a fist fight in the middle of the hospital, "WELL! I have to get going back to a patient. It was nice meeting you."

Cristina walks down the hallway and disappears into the elevator. Elevator stops and Cristina gets off. She walks outside and walks over to a lunch table where Izzie, George, and Meredith are already sitting. "What kind of name is Skylar anyway?" she says as she slams her tray down onto the table and takes a seat.

"And hello to you too." George replies.

"Why would a best friend be touching him?" Cristina continues, totally ignoring George's snarky comment.

George and Izzie both look to each other for answers as to what Cristina is even talking about, both of them don't have a clue. Izzie replies, "Ok, you've lost me."

"Burke's best friend is in town. She's beautiful. She touched him. They were laughing. HER NAME IS SKYLAR!" Cristina explains.

Izzie and George both say at the same time, "Drama." Meredith hasn't eaten a thing. The whole table notices but no one says a word. They just keep looking at each other and back at Meredith.

Meredith finally speaks up, "She's only here to visit, right?"

"Who?" Izzie asks.

"I am assuming she's talking about George's girlfriend," Cristina jokes.

"Whoa! Not my girlfriend!" George says defensively.

"Yeah, Addison's sister," Meredith confirms.

Cristina, Izzie and George all say, "Drama."

"Yeah, I hate drama," Meredith says as she slams down her uneaten sandwich.

Derek walks over to the table and says, "It's time for Mr. Miles's surgery now, Dr. Yang."

Before getting up Cristina whispers to Meredith, "I'll try to get some information."

Derek and Cristina walk off to get ready for surgery. Mark and Alex are already scrubbed in and ready to go. The operating room is quiet. No one is saying a word. Derek is just going through the motions as Mark and Alex look on until it is their turn to operate.

Cristina finally finds the opportunity to say something, "Excuse me Dr. Shepherd; I know it's not any of my business…"

Derek interrupts her before she can finish her sentence, "No it's not."

"No of course not but Meredith is my friend. I just…It's just that there is drama taking place and I want to know what it is…I don't want her to get hurt again," Cristina replies.

Very sternly Derek says, "Dr. Yang, this is not the time or the place to discuss this, it's complicated…like this surgery. I have a man's skull flap open, a brain exposed, and you're worried about my ex-wife's slutty sister."

"Don't talk about her that way," Mark yells. Cristina's eyes go wide, she is very surprised that Mark would stick up for anybody but himself.

"Wow, Mark, I didn't realize you still had a heart. It figures you would defend her," Derek snaps.

"Just because you're mad at her for something doesn't mean you can call her names like that," Mark says as he tries to stay calm, he does not want to get into an argument in the middle of the surgery.

Derek is now enjoying the fact that he is getting under Mark's skin. "I can and will talk about her any way I please."

"Just get back to it so I can work my magic," Mark says, back to his cocky ways. Derek removes the tumor, he and Cristina step away from the table. Mark and Alex take over. Derek and Cristina leave the room and get cleaned up.

As he scrubs his hands with soap Derek turns to Cristina and says in a low tone, "I don't know why she's here."

"Excuse me?"

"Addison's sister, I don't know why she's here."

"Oh, ok then." Derek walks out of the room. Cristina goes up into the gallery to watch the rest of the surgery. The surgery is done and Cristina walks to the elevator. Alex is already standing up against the back of the elevator.

"Sloan totally kicked McDr…Shepherd's ass today." Alex says with a huge smile on his face.

"I didn't know it was a competition…and it's not like he's my guy anyway."

"He still won." Alex just loves rubbing it in her face that he had the better attending in that mini argument that presented itself in the OR.

"Shut up, evil spawn, I am not in the mood."

Derek is looking all over the hospital for Addison. He finally spots her and pulls her by the arm into a room. He cuts right to the chase, "Why is she here?"

"It's not my job to tell you, find her and ask her yourself," she says coldly, he can tell there is something wrong.

"You know, don't you? She told you about what happened between us?" That could be the only explanation why Addison looks so hurt and betrayed.

She sighs, "I wish I didn't, Derek. Remember when I told you that I caught Mark with another woman? Well, it was Allison…and now this…I really need you to leave me alone right now." Derek has a surprised and yet an almost hurt look on his face.

"Really? I am so sorry, Addison." He didn't know what else to say. There really was not much to say at this point. The damage has been done.

"You have no idea." Addison and Derek walk away from each other. Allison is standing outside facing away from the hospital she starts to walk away as Mark comes up behind her and gets right up close to her, she stops, talks into her ear.

"What are you doing here?" Mark asks.

Without turning around to face him Allison says sarcastically, "It's nice to see you too, Mark."

"You're going to cause trouble," he says in lower voice.

She finally turns around to face him, "Oh, like you're one to talk."

Mark smiles and says, "It's good to see you, I've missed you." He grabs her hand and kisses it. She pulls her hand out of his and away from his kiss.

Sounding annoyed, "You didn't have to leave, that was your choice, remember? It seems to be the theme in this thing we call a family."

Allison and Mark continue to talk while Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, and George who are inside the hospital watching Allison and Mark from afar.

"What do you think is going on?" Meredith asks.

"She's talking to McSteamy," Izzie replies. Meredith just looks at Izzie dumbfounded that she would even answer that way.

"Yeah, I got that, Izzie. Something is not right," Meredith exclaims.

"When are things ever right around here?" Cristina says.

Mark walks passed them and goes one way and Allison shortly follows. Mark goes out of sight just as Derek walks in. Allison sees him and walks towards him just the same time the group starts walking towards him as well. Derek stares into her eyes and puts his arms on each side of her arms.

"Hi, Derek," Allison says while looking right into his eyes.

He replies back in the same tone and never breaking eye contact, "Hi, Allison."

Meredith speaks up feeling ignored, almost invisible, "Derek, aren't you going to introduce us?"

Allison does ignore Meredith and continues, "Derek, where is Addison?"

Jokingly he says, "Avoiding you, probably." He smiles, "You look good.

Allison smiles back at him but it's more condescending than actual happiness. "I know you don't mean that. I know how you feel about me so you don't have to act like you still like me. I have not come here to be friends again, Derek. I am not like you or Addison or even Mark chasing after some miracle that everything is going to go back to normal just because I showed up with my bright smiling face."

"I am trying to be civil here."

Allison sees right through it, "How noble of you. Those baby blues get you nowhere with me, Derek, so let's just stop kidding ourselves."

"I am sorry that I…took advantage."

"I don't want to hear your apology, that is _not_ what I am back here for," she says as she starts to get impatient with him.

He too is starting to get annoyed at the attitude she is pulling with him, "So why _are_ you here?"

Meredith gets angry and walks over to the group (George, Cristina, and Izzie) who are sitting on chairs some distance away. Mark walks back into the room and his eyes meet with Allison's and they stare at each other. Derek turns around to see Mark standing there and he just turns back around to see Addison walking into the room as she stops dead in her tracks. The group stays quiet as if they are trying not to be seen or heard.

Allison sees that Mark he rejoined them and says, "Now that we're all here, there is something we need to discuss."

"Holy McDrama, Batman," Cristina says in a low voice.

"I really hate drama," Meredith replies.

"Tell me about it," Cristina says as they all wait for what happens next.


	2. Chapter 2

Meredith, Izzie, George, and Cristina are sitting off to the side staring at Mark, Derek, Addison, and Allison. They are anxiously waiting to hear what the big news is.

"Allison, what is going on?" Derek asks.

Allison laughs, "I didn't expect you or Mark to notice this all on your own."

Mark walks closer to Allison to get a closer look at her, he finally notices her huge baby belly that he should've noticed earlier if he wasn't so busy looking into her emerald green eyes, "Oh my god."

Derek still doesn't notice and has to ask, "What?" 

Allison continues, "But I am having trouble trying to figure out whose baby I am pregnant with."

"Oh my god." Derek exclaims.

George spits out his coffee and whispers, "Did she just say pregnant?"

Cristina puts her hand up to quiet him and says, "Shh, this is getting good."

Mark says, "Wait, what do you mean you don't know. Who else have you…I cannot believe this."

Addison chimes in, "Why don't you explain how this all happened, Allison?"

Allison almost takes joy in watching the two men suffer and gladly tells the tale of how they are all standing there, "Well, after Derek left for Seattle Addison and Mark moved in together. The only problem with this is that I was sleeping with Mark at the time. We had plans, actually. Addison caught us in bed together and decided she was going to save her marriage and Mark decided he was going to go after her and try to save what they had. OH and did I mention that the night Derek left he came to my apartment and slept with me, yeah that happened."

Derek runs his fingers through his hair and mumbles, "I can't believe this is happening." It's loud enough for Allison to hear it.

Allison quickly looks to him as soon as he stops talking and yells, "_I_ can't believe that you all did this to me! I came out here to apologize to Addison and wound up sleeping with Mark and Derek and getting pregnant and never even seeing Addison before going back home."

Derek starts to panic, "Why are you doing this? Do you have to go into detail?"

"Because if I am not going to be happy then nobody is. I am sorry your girlfriend has to hear this but…"

Derek interrupts, forgetting that Meredith had been there the whole time, " Me…Meredith?"

Allison points to where they are all sitting and says, "Yeah, she and the stooges have been sitting over there the whole time like they're watching some retarded soap opera." Derek looks over at Meredith and she has tears rolling down her cheeks.

"I am so sorry Meredith. You were with Finn at the time," Derek says. Trying to save any faith in him she might have had left. Meredith runs off and Cristina, Izzie, and George follow her.

"So now what?" Mark asks.

Meredith, Izzie, Cristina, and George are in the locker room. They're all sitting on the same bench just staring at the lockers. No one wants to speak up first.

George says the first thing that comes to mind, "I can't believe she is pregnant." Izzie smacks him in the arm, "OW! I mean, are you ok, Mer?"

Meredith takes a deep breath, "I am trying not to be mad at him, I really am."

"Seriously? Why?" Cristina asks.

"We weren't together. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond hurt by the news. I am even angry but I don't want to me angry with him," Meredith explains.

"That's very awesome of you Meredith," Izzie says, trying to give Meredith the support she needs.

"Thanks, Iz, plus we don't even know if it's his," Meredith says, "I kinda feel bad for Addison."

George mumbles, "I feel bad for George."

"This is just too much drama for one day. Speaking of drama, I wonder if Burke's friend left yet. I'll see you guys later," Cristina says as she stands up from the bench and makes her way towards the door. Cristina walks out of the locker room to find Burke. He is walking by with his arm around Skylar's shoulders.

"Hey Cristina, Skylar and I are going to meet up later for some drinks and I want you to be there," Burke says.

Cristina unenthusiastically replies, "Of course, wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Fantastic," Burke turns to Skylar, "So, I will see you later." Skylar gives him a hug and walks away.

"Does she have to touch you?" Cristina snaps.

Burke finds it amusing that Cristina is getting so worked up over his friend, "Is the Cristina Yang, dare I say, jealous?"

"No not at all, I just don't like other women touching you."

"You have nothing to worry about," he reassures, then kisses her on the forehead, "I have a surgery in a little while that I would like you to scrub in on."

"Now that's what I'm talking about! I mean, I'd be honored to assist you Dr. Burke."

Burke can't help but laugh. "I'll see you in a bit, Dr. Yang." They both go their separate ways.

George and Izzie are walking back to the pit. Izzie looks to George and says, "George, I think you may need to rethink your crush."

"Yeah, this whole day has been nuts. The hospital is quiet but everything else has been like a tornado went through, it's a mess."

"I hope Meredith is going to be ok. I hope it's Sloan's. I hope this is all some awful nightmare that we are all having."

"Yeah." George's thoughts drift to the moment he first talked to Allison, eyes, those eyes are what drew him in. He can't stop thinking about her eyes. They get to the pit and Dr. Bailey is waiting there for them.

Bailey walks up to them looking furious, "Where have you interns been? I've been looking everywhere for you. We just had a bunch of people come in, lets get going, I'm going to page Dr. Grey and Dr. Karev to help us out."

Meredith is still in the locker room when she gets her page. She rushes out and heads to the elevator, Derek is standing there waiting for her with hope in his eyes that she will forgive him. The elevator door opens and they both get inside.

Derek starts to talk, "Meredith, I…"

Meredith knows what he is about to say and she cannot let him be mad at himself or feel bad for what had happened, she interrupts him, "I'm not mad at you."

"I know, I'm sorry…wait, did you just say you're not mad?"

"We weren't together when it happened, it hurts but I am just tired of being mad at you. I want us to work."

Derek is relieved to hear her say this. "I do too," he pauses, "I really hope it's not my baby." Derek hugs her as the elevator stops. Meredith hugs him back before she gets off and rushes to help the team. Alex rushes past her to find the most "exciting" case.

Alex yells, "You snooze you lose, Grey." Meredith joins Dr. Bailey at a gurney.

"Dr. Grey we need to get this child into surgery as soon as we can, please page Dr. Burke," Bailey says as she is doing chest compressions. Meredith runs off to page Dr. Burke. Another doctor takes over so Dr. Bailey can go over to Alex to see what he has with his patient. Before Dr. Bailey can say anything Alex speaks up.

"Um Dr. Bailey, this man is missing the whole top of his scalp."

"Karev, page Dr. Shepherd, we need to get this man into surgery now."


	3. Chapter 3

A woman is walking through the door very slowly with a panicked look on her face; she has a jacket covering herself from the waste down. George walks over to her to see what is wrong.

"Ma'am, are you ok?" asks, concerned.

"My water broke."

"Ok, we'll get you onto a wheelchair," George says as he tries to grab her arm to help her, she yanks her arm away from him.

"I can't sit."

George's focus turns to the coat wrapped around his patient's waist, "Ma'am, what is going on under your coat?" The woman pulls the coat away to show that the baby's head is already out. As calmly as he can he turns to Izzie and says, "Izzie, can you page Dr. Montgomery, we have a…situation." To the woman he says, "Ok, Mrs…"

"Dell, Patricia Dell."

"Ok Patricia, I am going to stay with you standing very still right here and Dr. Montgomery will be with you in a moment to help you get your baby delivered."

In a panic Patricia says, "He needs to come out now, doctor."

"But I…"

Now screaming, "HE NEEDS TO! I can't hold it any longer and I am not about to lose my baby today."

"Ok." He mutter to himself, "Addison better get here soon." To Patricia, "We are going to have you lay down on this bed and we are going to deliver this baby." He yells out to anyone who would listen, "I am going to need some help delivering this baby over here!"

Nurses start to run over to him with any tools he is going to need before Addison shows up. Addison is in surgery and hears her pager go off.

"Can someone check what that is? I cannot leave this patient right now," Addison says.

George has Patricia up in stirrups and is ready for her to start pushing.

"Ok Patricia, is this your first child?"

"Yes."

"Ok, so then we'll be learning together. You can push with the next contraction," George says as he wipes the sweat from his brow.

We go back to Addison in the OR.

"Dr. Montgomery, Dr. O'Malley is delivering a baby in the pit and Dr. Bailey is in an emergency surgery," a nurse says.

"Can you go and make sure everything goes smooth, I am pretty sure O'Malley has never done this before and he is going to need all the help he can get. I just can't leave right now."

"Yes, doctor."

The nurse scrubs out and runs off. Back to George in the PIT. There are so many people standing around watching everything that happens. The baby has his shoulders out at this point and everything is going smoothly.

George screams out in a panic, "Is Dr. Montgomery on her way?"

The nurse runs in and says, "She can't leave a surgery she is in but I am here to help, Dr. O'Malley."

Relieved to be getting help he lets out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank god. Ok Patricia, let's try to get this baby out with the next push ok. You're doing great."

"You too, Dr. O'Malley," Patricia says as she smiles to him. George smiles back.

"You're doing it Dr. O'Malley," the nurse says.

"Ok, ready, let's have this baby," George says with confidence. With the next contraction Patricia pushes as hard as she can to get as much of the baby out as she can. George gets in position to catch the baby as other nurses get in position to help. The baby comes out and George catches him in a blanket. The baby cries right away and everyone cheers and starts to pat George on the back. George cuts the umbilical cord and puts the baby on Patricia's chest.

"Thank you, Dr. O'Malley," Patricia says as she tries to catch her breath.

"You're welcome." The nurses rush in to get the baby cleaned up and to make sure he is alright. Addison runs in.

"Ok, I am here" Addison proclaims.

"Dr. Montgomery, I just delivered a baby," George exclaims.

"You…what? It's delivered? Wow, good job, George, I'll take it from here," Addison says as she pats him on the back, he deserves it.

George walks off amazed at what just happened. Izzie follows him. "That was amazing George," she says as she gives him a hug around the neck.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," George says. He sees a nearby trash can and pukes into it.

Allison and Mark are sitting on a gurney facing each other.

"Allison, we have to work this out," Mark says as he lifts up his head from his hands.

"There is nothing to work out. You left me to come to Addison and I am trying to move on," Allison says in a low tone, sounding so hurt.

"I still love you."

"Mark, don't do this. It's too late," she says as she turns away from him, it pains her to look at him. Allison gets up and starts walking out of the room. She turns around in the doorway to say something. Mark interrupts her as she is opening her mouth.

"If it's mine I want you to move here."

"No," she says bluntly. Allison walks out of the door. She walks down the hallway and waits for the elevator. The elevator door opens and George is standing there. Allison gets on. George smiles at her.

"Hi, I am George," he says as he flashes her a smile and a wave.

Allison gives him a long hard look. "Yeah, babbling man, I remember you." Allison stares at the wall of the elevator. One single tear rolls down her cheek.

"So, do you want to go out for a drink later?" he asks, it scares him that he actually had the courage to ask her. It scares him that he may get turned down, but it feels right.

"I'm pregnant, George."

He recovers quickly from his error, "Of coffee, a drink of coffee." Allison turns around to face him. George sees the tear and wipes it off her face with his thumb.

She hangs her head as she said, "I am sorry, George, but I can't." George just gently touches her face with his hand and gives her a soft kiss. The elevator doors open and there stand Meredith, Callie, and Addison who were all waiting to get onto the elevator. George jumps back and quickly exits the elevator and Allison quickly follows and they go in opposite directions. Addison, Callie, and Meredith step into the elevator.

"Unbelievable! I sleep with Sloan and he doesn't talk to me again, _she_ does and he's kissing her," Callie exclaims.

"Ok so that did just happen. You saw it too. I am not hallucinating," Meredith says.

"Yeah and I am sorry I saw it."

"My sister ruins lives everywhere she goes. It seems to be a family trait," Addison says, trying to lighten the mood. She smiles. Meredith and Callie both smile. The elevator stops and Meredith gets off.

"She's leaving soon, right?" Callie asks.

"I sure do hope so."

Meredith joins George, Izzie, and Cristina in the tunnel. She sits on a gurney next to Cristina. Still looking straight Meredith says, "George, I will let you explain what I just witnessed."

This perks Cristina's interest, "What did you witness? Something good I hope."

Izzie tries to change the subject because she can tell George is getting uncomfortable, "George delivered a baby by himself today."

"Really? Congratulations, George," Meredith says.

"Yeah it was something else. I can't believe there were no complications. I mean the head was sticking out when the woman walked in," George explains.

"SICK!" Cristina yells.

"Yeah, I hope I never have to do that again."

"You are my new hero…for today anyway," Izzie jokes. They all laugh.

"How's this for drama? George was kissing Addison's sister on the elevator and me, Callie, and Addison saw," Meredith says, she didn't forget what it was she wanted to tell people despite Izzie's attempt.

"Meredith!" George exclaims.

"I'm sorry, I had to say it."

"She was crying, I felt bad. I really like her. I don't stand a chance, as always," George says, dejected.

"From what I can see, you don't want this chance," Cristina says.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," says sarcastically. Someone's beeper goes off. They all look at their beepers.

Cristina stands up, "That's Burke, gotta go." Cristina runs off to head to surgery. Alex joins them in the tunnel. He sits next to Izzie.

"So this is where everyone is hiding. There is a buzz going around this hospital about so many things. It's crazy," Alex says with absolutely no idea what's been going on.

"I need a break from all that drama that's going on out there. I am going to head to Joe's, anyone care to join?" Meredith says.

Izzie's eyes light up, "I wouldn't miss the Cristina, Skylar, Burke date that's going to be happening later for the world, I'm in."

"I will too since I got turned down for my coffee date," George complains.

"You're just going to get hurt if you keep going after her George."

"I know but…there is just something about her that keeps luring me in. Let's just get ready to go before something happens and we get stuck here."

They all get up and head to the locker room to get changed into their regular clothes. Meredith, George, Alex, and Izzie are sitting at the bar drinking their drinks. The door to the bar opens up and the bell goes off and they all turn to see who it is. Allison and Mark walk in the door and they quickly turn around so Mark doesn't see them. Mark and Allison sit at a table close enough to the bar where the group can hear their conversation.

Allison pounds her fist onto the table top, "I already told you to stop trying, Mark. I don't want to do this anymore."

"But you need me, sweetheart."

Izzie whispers in shock, "Sweetheart?"

Allison annoyed, "Don't you start with the pet names now, Mark. You have to realize that you missed your chance with me when you chose to come out here." She can't let herself fall for him again, he's hurt her too much.

"I know. I am sorry." He longs to hold her, to kiss her, to feel her love again.

"I am gone once I find out whose baby this is. I cannot stand to be on the same side of the country as you people." He could tell she is being absolutely serious. It pains him that she is so hurt by what he had done and what he had said to her in the past. Allison gets up and walks out of the bar. Mark follows her with his eyes. When she is out of sight he puts his head in his hands and mumbles to himself.

"I can't live without her," Mark says to himself. Mark storms out of the bar angry and hurt just as Burke, Cristina and Skylar are walking in. They sit at a booth and order drinks.

"Dude, did that just happen?" Alex says in amazement.

"Sloan actually has feelings?" Meredith continues in that amazement.

"It just keeps getting weirder and weirder," George adds.

Meredith Voice Over:

No matter what happens in our past that we think will be kept secret always seems to find a way to show itself at awful times. If it's a secret crush, or a not so secret crush it will show itself in the only way it knows how, drama. We must learn to work with each other to move on from the past to work on the future. I can finally do that and I am looking forward to it.


	4. Chapter 4

Derek and Meredith wake up in the morning and head down to the kitchen without saying a word. They just look like they need a lot more sleep. George and Izzie are already in the kitchen and breakfast was already made.

"George made breakfast."

"George did? Our George? _Made_ breakfast?" Meredith asks, what's gotten into him? Meredith didn't even know he knew how to cook.

"I am right here you know, I can hear you," George says.

Derek speaks up, "Thank you George." Then Derek nudges Meredith.

Meredith gets the hint, "Yeah, thanks, it smells great." They join Izzie and George at the table. Everyone is eating and no one is saying a word. George takes a sip of his coffee and looks over at Derek. He almost has a stare going for a few seconds before Derek notices.

"Do I have something on my face?" Derek asks, starting to get paranoid.

"What is Allison like?" George blurts out. He didn't want to bring her up. He knew it was a sore subject, he just can't help himself. He wants to know more, he needs to know more.

"George, seriously, I don't think you should be bringing this up," Meredith warns, she says it in a tone that tells George that he better stop this instant.

Derek shifts in his chair, "I don't…I shouldn't." Derek gets up and walks upstairs. Meredith follows after him.

"Seriously, George, what were you thinking?"

"I'm in love with her."

George and Izzie are in the locker room when Cristina and Meredith come in. Meredith puts her stuff in her locker, puts her scrubs on, and walks out. Cristina gives Izzie a look as to say, "What's going on?", Izzie points to George. Cristina continues getting ready and chases after Meredith.

"So aren't you going to tell me what happened or do I have to beat it out of you?" Cristina asks.

"George is acting strange lately. This morning he asked Derek about Allison."

Cristina leans against the wall, "I guess he feels he's untouchable since he delivered that baby. Speaking of babies, when will they find out whose it is?"

"In a few days, then she will be leaving."

"How can you be so sure?"

Meredith explains, "We overheard her talking to Mark last night…he called her sweetheart."

"McSteamy is turning into McSoftie and I missed it? Dammit." Meredith and Cristina laugh as they are joined by Izzie, Alex, and George. They look around in each direction.

"Where is Dr. Bailey?" George asks.

"Right here O'Malley, I know I am short but I know you're not blind either. Let's get going," Bailey snaps.

Derek and Addison are in Addison's office with the door shut. They're both sitting on chairs facing each other. Derek is leaning back in the chair with his feet up on the desk.

"I want to hear from you and only you this one time what happened between you and my sister and then I never want to think or hear about it again," Addison says.

"I left that night and I was in such a rage. I didn't know where to go. I just started walking. Allison was coming out of a bar and I saw she was a little drunk so I offered to walk her home to make sure she makes it ok. I also needed someone to talk to. We got back to her place and we talked all night. She was hurt just as much as I was because she thought Mark loved her, she felt just as betrayed, she knew how I felt. I didn't mean to sleep with her but it happened," Derek explains.

"Why again? How did it happen again when she came out here?" Desperately asks.

"That was my fault. I was so angry that you came here. I wanted you to just go away and let me and Meredith have a life together. She called me and said she was in town and I told her to come over. I thought she was going to get back to you about it but she didn't make it to you I guess. I wanted to hurt you like you hurt me," he pauses, "I was also hurt that Meredith was dating our vet. I heard her voice on the phone and I felt comfort."

"I thought we were trying to repair it though."

"I know, I made a mistake. I apologize for this whole thing ever happening. I can't wait until she leaves. You don't think it's mine, do you?" Derek feels bad for the errors he has made in the past year.

Sounded emotionally exhausted, "I honestly have no idea, Derek." A beeper goes off, they both look at their beepers, it's Addison's. "That's me, I gotta get going. Thanks for telling me the truth, Derek. I am sorry too." Addison walks out of the office. Derek stands up to leave and when he turns around Mark is standing there. Derek steps back, startled.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," yells as he smacks Mark in the arm.

"I'm sorry; I wanted to catch you before you left."

"What's up? You look terrible."

"I haven't slept much since she's been here," Mark says as he rubs the back of his head.

"You really hurt her, Mark. She gave you a chance and you left."

"I know. It's just that I get weak when she is around. I know I belong with Addison but I cannot live without Ally."

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you." Derek walks out and heads to a CT room to get his day started.

Mark walks in the opposite direction. Mark goes up to Dr. Bailey. "Dr. Bailey, can I borrow Karev for a little bit? I need his help with something."

"Sure thing Dr. Sloan. KAREV! You're with Dr. Sloan, he has requested you." Alex walks over to Mark.

"Follow me," Mark says. They walk, they get onto an elevator. "You up for some fun today, Karev?"

"Does this mean dry cleaning again?"

Mark laughs, "No it doesn't." They get off the elevator and walk right into an exam room. "It means breast implants!" We see George looking at his beeper and watch him as he goes into a CT tech room. Derek is sitting there by himself with a scan up on the screen. George walks over and takes a look at the screen.

"Well it looks like…" George begins to say.

Derek interrupts him, "This is not why I paged you in here, O'Malley."

"Oh. Then what's up?"

"I'm sorry about how I reacted this morning. It's just that I would rather not talk about this situation in front of Meredith, she is really trying to move on from it."

"I am sorry, it's just that…"

"Listen, I understand that you are developing feelings but you need to get over it. You will only get yourself hurt. She is not worth it." George just storms out without saying a word. Burke sees George and grabs his arm.

Burke walks up to George and grabs him by the arm, "Let's go O'Malley, I need you in surgery with me."

"Yes sir, Dr. Burke."

Addison is in her office staring at a computer screen. Izzie walks in and Addison looks up, sees her, then looks back at the computer.

"I am your intern today, Dr. Montgomery," Izzie says.

"Have a seat Dr. Stevens, we are just waiting on a patient." Izzie sits down. It's quiet. Izzie is uncomfortable with the silence. She opens her mouth a few times to say something but nothing comes out, she doesn't know what to say. "Don't worry about me, I am managing. You don't have to say anything."

Izzie feels like she needs to say something, "Ok, I know we aren't friends or anything but if you need to talk to someone you can come to me, I am a very good listener."

Addison takes a deep breath, "I can't escape it. My misery is everywhere. Most people take space after their divorce, sometimes they never see each other again, they just go on with their lives. I see him every day, he is happy, he acts like nothing happened. Mark is here supposedly to be with me but he makes no attempt. Then my sister comes here and just…I can't take it anymore." Izzie stands up and puts her hand on Addison's shoulder.

Allison and Richard are in Richard's office. "You've gotten older," Richard says as he smiles at her.

Allison nods, "Yes sir."

"I am sorry I took your sister away from New York. I am sure you miss her."

Is uneasy in her chair at the mention of Addison, "We aren't getting along actually."

"Oh I am sorry to hear that. So what brings you to Seattle?"

"I am not sure you want to hear the answer to that." She couldn't tell him what she had done. He looked at her like the daughter he never had, there was no way she could break his hear like that. Richard just looks at her. Allison opens her mouth to answer just as a nurse walks in.

"Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Webber, Dr. Burke needs your help in OR 1."

Burke is in the OR, people are in a panic. Richard washes up really quickly and rushes into the OR.

"What's the problem Dr. Burke?" Richard asks.

"His heart has become enlarged," Burke says slowly.

"You should know how to handle this, Dr. Burke."

"No, Chief, take a look," Burke says as he points down to the open body down on his operating table. Richard looks down to see a heart that is the size of a basketball.

"Oh my god."

Burke leans in to whisper in Richard's ear so no one else can hear him, "I don't know what to do."

Richard leans back to whisper, "Neither do I."


	5. Chapter 5

Alex and Mark are coming out of the breast implant surgery and go to wash up. "That was amazing," Alex says as he looks over to Mark.

"I know. You're welcome."

"So, I hear you actually have a soft side."

"Only when she is around, she makes me a better man. I think you know what I'm talking about, Karev," Mark says as he dries his hands off and throws the paper towel into the garbage, Mark leaves the room.

"Yes I do," Alex mumbles.

Izzie and Addison are in surgery and the machines are going crazy. "We are going to loser her!" Izzie yells.

"We can still save the baby, there is still time for the baby," Addison says calmly, hoping the tone in her voice will also calm Izzie down. The mother crashes and they get to work on getting the baby out before there is any trouble. They get the baby out and he starts crying. "Oh thank god he's alive. Good job Dr. Stevens. Meet me out there and we will tell her husband together."

Allison is sleeping in Richard's office. She fell asleep with her feet propped up on another chair. Mark is standing in the doorway watching her. Derek comes up from behind him.

"She doesn't look so evil when she sleeps," Derek says, half joking.

Mark turns around to face him, "What did she do to you that is so terrible?"

Derek looks around to make sure nobody is there, "Not a word of this to anyone, Mark, ok?" Mark nods. Derek mumbles, "She yelled out your name during sex."

Mark starts laughing. "Seriously? Damn I'm good." Mark walks away chuckling to himself.

Derek stands in the doorway and watches her sleep. Meredith walks over to him, "We have time to talk."

Derek turns around and smiles at her, "Are you hiding from Bailey?"

"Everyone is in some hot surgery today but me, I'm on labs, we have time to talk."

"What would you like to talk about?" Derek asks, a little confused on what she would be talking about.

"Why you're watching your ex-wife's sister sleep who may be the mother of your child who you slept with behind everyone's back," Meredith realizes she rambled but she feels like she deserves an explanation of how this all happened.

"I thought you weren't mad," Derek says mockingly.

"I'm not, I just want to know what's going on. I want to know how…why…how. I want to know everything."

Derek looks and her and shakes his head as to say "ok". They start to walk and talk and the scene fades out to see Cristina in the gallery watching Burke's surgery. George looks up at her, she puts her hands up as to ask "what's going on?" and George shrugs. Bailey comes into the gallery and sits next to Cristina.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bailey asks in amazement.

Never moving her eyes off the OR Cristina says, "Yeah, it's amazing isn't it?"

"And that man is still alive?"

"I am so jealous of George right now," Cristina says, practically drooling.

"How are they going to fix this?" Cristina looks at Bailey in almost shock.

"Oh my god, they don't know what to do!" Cristina shrieks. Both Bailey and Cristina burst out of the gallery. They are walking fast down the hall.

"There had to have been another case like this somewhere. We need to find it," Bailey says.

They see Alex walking towards them and Cristina grabs him, "Come on, Evil Spawn, we need your help."

"I'll help you if you stop calling me that." Bailey smirks.

"Alright alright, Alex, happy now?"

"So what are we working on?" Alex asks.

"A heart that is the size of a basketball," Cristina explains, she is so exciting she is practically skipping down the hallway. Alex's eyes go wide. "I KNOW!"

"Come on people, less yapping and more walking, the chief needs our help," Bailey yells to them as she waits for them at the end of the hallway.

Addison and Izzie are standing outside of the family's room. They both breathe and walk into the room. Addison takes a breath before she speaks, "Mr. Lowe, your wife had a lot of damage to her heart and we did everything we could to save her but we couldn't bring her back, however, we were able to save your son and he is healthy and doing perfectly. I am sorry" Mr. Lowe just stood there in shock. He just puts his head into Addison's shoulder and starts to cry. Addison signals to Izzie that she could leave the room. Izzie walks out and heads back down to the pit. Izzie walks passed the computer room where Alex is sitting staring at a computer. She turns around and stands in the doorway.

"Where is everyone?" Izzie asks.

"Yang and Bailey are in the library. We are trying to look up a case to help out the chief and Burke. Everyone else is in surgery."

"So basically no one is in the pit," she walks away in disgust that everyone could be so wrapped up in what they're doing that they abandoned the pit. Izzie walks out and continues heading to the pit. When she gets there she pages Meredith for some help. Cut to Meredith and Derek and Meredith's pager goes off.

"It's Izzie, she needs my help in the pit. I have to go," Meredith says. Meredith walks away and heads to the pit. Derek gets a page too and runs to catch up with her.

"Looks like I am needed too," he says looking up from his pager. They get onto the elevator and stand at opposite sides of the elevator each leaning against the walls.

"Thanks for telling me the truth, Derek."

"I am sorry it happened." Derek walks over to Meredith and kisses her. The doors open up and they rush out together.

Cristina and Alex go up to the gallery and Bailey goes into the scrub room and puts a mask on. She walks into the OR and walks up to Burke. Burke walks away from the table to talk to her.

"I'm sorry Dr. Burke, it seems that there has been no case like this before," she says.

"Thank you, Dr. Bailey," he turns to Richard, "What do we do now, chief?"

"We wait."


	6. Chapter 6

Meredith Voice Over:

Waiting can be long and hard. You wait for the right time to tell someone something. You wait to take action. The thing about waiting is that you think you know when it will be the right moment to make your move and usually it's too late.

Burke and the chief are still in the OR with the patient. George walks in and Burke turns around to see who is walking in.

"Welcome back O'Malley."

"Thanks Dr. Burke, how long has it been?" he asks rubbing his eyes. He hadn't slept a wink.

Burke looks up at the clock, "Fifteen hours and no change. You ready to continue?"

"Yes sir."

Derek walks into an exam room with some films and puts them up on the light box.

"You need to make a decision, Amy," Derek says sternly.

"Dr. Shepherd, I made my decision, you want me to change my mind and it's not going to happen no matter how handsome you are." She smiles.

"You do realize that without the surgery you will be fine? This tumor won't affect you in any way."

"Have you ever suffered from migraines, Dr. Shepherd?"

"No."

"Then you don't understand what I go through on a daily basis. I would rather not be able to walk ever again than to get these migraines every day. I understand the risks and I will sign anything you want to prove it. Just please help me get rid of these migraines. I am begging you."

"I will be back soon," he says, then walks out of the patient's room. You can hear Amy's voice as he is walking away.

"I'm not changing my mind!" she calls out to him. Derek smiles and shakes his head and continues walking. Cristina is almost sneaking through the hospital trying to avoid being seen so she could sneak into the gallery to get a glimpse of what is going on in the surgery. Bailey turns a corner behind her.

"I can see you, Dr. Yang. You are coming with me," Bailey says, not in the least bit amused.

"What about everyone else?" Cristina whines.

"We'll be scooping them up on the way, don't worry Yang you won't be the only one being tortured today. Just be glad you're not O'Malley, he's been stuck in that surgery for 15 hours now."

"Are you kidding me? I'd kill to be in that surgery." Bailey just looks at her and continues walking. Bailey opens the door of the locker room to see Meredith lying on a bench, Alex sitting on the floor with his knees up and head resting on it, Izzie sitting next to Alex with her head leaning on his.

"Let's get moving, people, it's already a busy day and we haven't even gotten started yet." They all moan and slowly start to stand up.

"What is wrong with everyone? I stayed here all night in the gallery staring at that basketball heart and I am super energized," Cristina says.

Meredith looks up at her, "You are not human. You're some scary surgery monster or something. I tried to stay up, I just couldn't do it."

"I can't believe it hasn't even changed. It's so bizarre," Izzie says.

Bailey raises her voice to wake them all up, "Alright let's snap out of it, we have other patients to tend to. It's time for rounds." They walk into a patient's room. "Who is presenting?"

Izzie steps forward, "I am. Amy Simons, 23, suffers from migraines. Dr. Shepherd found a tumor that has been causing them, still waiting on patient's decision on surgery."

"I made up my mind already, Dr. Shepherd just doesn't like it. He keeps walking away from me thinking when he comes back that I am going to change my mind but I'm not so you might as well get it over with," Amy speaks up.

"Dr. Stevens, what is so significant about this surgery?" Bailey asks.

"The tumor isn't doing any other harm to the patient other than causing the migraines but the removing the tumor will cause paralysis in the legs due to the location of it," Izzie explains.

"Dude, you'd rather not be able to walk than get a little headache once in a while?" Alex chimes in.

"It's not just a little headache once in a while. It's every day that I can't function because of them. I know what I am getting myself into, I wish you people would just let me do it," Amy replies.

"Stevens you're with Dr. Shepherd today so when he finally decides to free this poor girl from her pain, you'll be in on that."

Richard, Burke, and George are just staring at the operating table. The heart is still as big as it has been.

Burke speaks up, "This is ridiculous, we have to do something."

"What do you suggest, Preston?" Richard asks.

"We need to do a transplant, there is no other way, this heart is not changing at all."

"I will go talk to the family." Richard walks out of the OR. George looks at Burke and Burke looks back down at George.

"I wish there was a better way, O'Malley. I would love to be the first doctor to treat something like this as a success but I am truly stumped here. Don't tell anyone."

"Oh I won't, sir. I wish there was something we could do." George shakes his head in amazement. Richard walks back into the OR.

"We have the family's permission, now we just have to wait for a heart. I am going to talk to Bailey and let her know to page me if she gets anything." Richard walks back out of the OR and walks down the hall. Cristina is walking in the opposite direction and sees him and turns around to catch up to him.

"Chief Webber, is there anything I can do to help you in the basketball heart case?" Cristina anxiously asks.

"Not unless you are willing to donate your heart, Dr. Yang."

She stops walking with him and he continues on, "It's almost worth it." Cristina turns around to go back the original way she was walking.

Allison is walking into the hospital. George sees her and walks over to her, "Hey Allison, going to see Addison?"

"Yeah, I am praying that the labs are back so I can see when I can go home." George looks almost heartbroken, definitely sad.

"Well, I am going to miss you."

Allison smiles at him, "You're a sweet guy, George. It's too bad I can't take you back to New York with me." George just stops in his tracks and Allison continues to walk. A big smile goes over his face and he goes along his way. He gets onto the elevator still with a big smile on his face. Addison is on the elevator already looking as miserable as ever. George snaps out of his happiness and realizes Addison is there.

"OH! Dr. Montgomery! Your sister is looking for you."

"Yeah well…she can go screw off," Addison snaps.

"Ok….?" George was definitely not expecting that reaction. The elevator stops and the doors open. George gets off and heads back into the OR.

Derek is walking up the stairwell and Meredith is walking down. They see each other and smile. They stop to talk.

"Crazy week, huh?" Derek asks.

"Yeah, nothing we can't handle though."

"I don't know how much more I can handle of this not knowing if I am going to be a father or not."

"I have a good feeling, Derek."

"I hope you're right." They continue to walk. Izzie and Cristina are walking together, Izzie has a chart in her hand and is heading to a patient's room.

Cristina says, "So, word is that they're going to try to do a heart transplant with basketball heart guy. I am in the pit today and if I get a guy, you want in?"

"I have a patient," Izzie says as she holds up her chart, "I guess it depends on how long McDreamy is going to put this surgery off."

"You're seriously putting this off for migraine girl?"

"She's still a patient. She still has a tumor. She still is going to be paralyzed after this" They walk into patient's room, Izzie continues, "She's…puking!" They rush into the room. The lights are off. Cristina and Izzie start to shiver. Amy is puking into a bucket. Izzie puts the back of her hand on Amy's forehead. "Why is it so cold in here? Why are you burning up? Why are you puking? The lights are off…what's going on?"

"Welcome to my hell, Dr. Stevens. You all don't understand and I don't expect you to. I puke, lights hurt my head, sounds hurt my head, my body temperature sky rockets, I am dizzy, I am groggy, I am in so much pain that I want to cry, I cannot function at all…shall I go on?"

"I'll find Dr. Shepherd for you."

"Is that man this stubborn about everything else?" Amy asks.

"Just about," Cristina says, trying to hold in her laugh. They walk out of the room without saying a word. Cristina heads to the PIT and Izzie goes to look for Derek. Cut to Bailey and Richard walking their separate ways after a conversation. Bailey goes up to Cristina.

"Dr. Yang, we need to find a heart for our friend. Just let me know if you find a potential donor."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey."

Mark is leaning on the nurse's station talking to a nurse when Alex walks over to him.

"I am with you again Dr. Sloan? Any cool surgeries today?" Alex hopeful that Mark hadn't gone back to his old ways.

"Well I do have something cool in mind. Ice cream…vanilla." Mark pulls out some money from his pocket and hands it to Alex. Alex snatches it out of his hand and mumbles as he walks away.

Alex mumbles, "I knew it wouldn't last."

Allison walks up behind Mark, "That wasn't very nice, Mark."

Mark quickly turns around and his usual "Mark scowl" turns into a big smile. "Oh, Allison, I didn't know you were around today."

"Yeah, I came by for some test results but Addy seems to be avoiding me. Any chance you can help me out?"

"That depends on what you're going to do for me," he says sensually.

"You know that sly flirty stuff doesn't work on me," Allison says.

Mark leans in close to whisper to her so no one else hears, "I have a reputation to uphold."

Allison whispers back to him to mock him, "Get me my test results." Mark quickly walks away. Allison smiles.

Meredith walks by and sees Allison standing at the nurse's station, stops in her tracks, and walks over to Allison.

"Waiting for Addison?" Meredith asks.

"No, she's avoiding me, Mark is fetching my results," Allison explains.

"McSteamy Mark?" Meredith didn't think Mark would ever be the "fetching" type, this amuses her.

"I guess. He tries to act tough here but he really is a kitten."

Meredith laughs, "That's very hard to believe." Derek walks by and sees Meredith and Allison laughing with each other.

Derek says to himself, "This is not happening." Derek walks over to the two of them. "Leaving soon I hope, Allison?"

"You wish, I am having the baby here Derek. We have to determine the father, remember?" Allison says with as much attitude as she can dish out at him.

"How can I forget? It's keeping me up at night. Meredith, can I talk to you over here for a second?" Meredith and Derek walk away from Allison and they get onto the elevator. "I don't want you talking to her let alone laughing with her, she's the enemy!"

"I thought I would be friendly to the potential mother of my boyfriend's child. Besides, I can laugh with who ever I want…which happened to be about Mark."

"Well in that case…she's still evil!" Derek says with a big smile.

"You're cute, you know that?" The elevator stops and the doors open. Derek and Meredith walk out.

"Yeah…I've even been told dreamy," Derek replies. She laughs and he smiles, he heads to a patient's room as Meredith walks in another direction to the pit. Izzie is already in Amy's room and she's prepped for surgery. "Ok Amy, last chance for you to change your mind. Are you sure you want to go through with this?"

"Dr. Shepherd, don't you realize the real reason I am doing this?" Derek just cocks his head to the side as to say "what?" "For the better parking spots, of course!" Derek laughs and shakes his head. He turns to Izzie.

"Is she prepped and ready to go, Dr. Stevens?"

"Yes, Dr. Shepherd, ready when you are."

"I am going to head to OR 2, meet me in there. I guess you could bring Ms. Simons too."

Amy turns to Izzie, "He's mad, he got all formal on us."

Izzie smiles, "Don't worry, I won't let him operate mad." Amy smiles, Derek walks out of the room and heads to the OR.


	7. Chapter 7

Burke and George are still waiting on a heart for their patient.

George rubs the back of his head, "I cannot believe this man's vitals haven't changed in the thousand hours we have been in here. I am starting to get claustrophobic, the walls are closing in around me, I feel like I am in prison or something."

"O'Malley, stop, if you want out of this surgery you are free to go and I am sure there is another intern that would gladly take your place."

"No, I'll stay, I am not giving Cristina the satisfaction."

Burke suddenly feels awkward with the silence that has crept through the OR, "So…"

"So…I…I am in love with a woman I can't have…again."

Burke's eyes go wide, he shifts his feet uncomfortably, "Oh…Um…Who…"

Richard interrupts by storming into the OR, "We have a donor."

Mark has a folder in his hands walking back over to the nurse's station. Allison is still standing there and Alex is standing next to her with ice cream. Mark walks over to them, takes the ice cream out of Alex's hand while he is handing Allison the folder. "Test results confirm, you are still beautiful."

"Oh excuse me, I think I just threw up in my mouth," Allison says. Mark's attempts to lighten up the mood have failed again. Alex laughs and Mark gives him a look as to say "shut it". Alex stops laughing and tries to put a serious look on but he can't keep himself from smiling.

"You'll come around," Mark says confidently.

"Not a chance, McSteamy." Allison looks through the several papers that are in the folder.

"Oh I see you've been talking to Meredith." Allison looks up and Mark and straight into his eyes. He gives her a look as to say "I miss you". She is unfazed by it.

She snaps out of his stare , "Well, looks like everything is going smoothly with the baby. He should be coming out any day now and I'll be out of your hair forever." Allison walks away, Mark and Alex follows her with their eyes until she's out of sight. Alex looks at Mark and smirks.

"What?" Mark says.

"Dude, she's cold."

Derek is in the OR with Izzie by his side about to start to work on the tumor. He already has the brain exposed., "I see the tumor. I am going to take it out in little pieces to try to save her ability to walk."

Bailey and Cristina are prepping the heart donor for surgery. Richard is getting the last signature from the family as they get to say their last goodbyes. They wheel the donor into the OR. Burke and George are preparing for the transplant. Richard joins Dr. Bailey and Cristina in the surgery to take the heart from the donor. Derek is working on taking Amy's tumor out piece by piece very slowly. "I don't think I am going to be able to get the whole thing out and save her ability to walk. DAMMIT!" Izzie puts her hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Richard has the heart donor's chest open, Cristina is standing by with the tray of ice to walk the heart into Burke, and Bailey is standing by to assist Richard in any way she can.

"Ok, Dr. Yang, the heart is ready," Richard says. Cristina walks over to the table and Richard takes the heart out slowly and puts it in the tray. Cristina covers it up and walks slowly away to walk out of the OR. Richard steps away from the table and follows her. "Dr. Bailey, finish up in here, I am going to oversee the transplant in OR 1 with Dr. Burke."

"My pleasure, chief." Bailey steps up to the table and continues as the chief and Cristina continue to walk out with the heart. They walk into the OR where Burke and George are waiting. Cristina walks up to the table and Burke takes the basketball heart out of Mr. Brown's chest. The chief takes the basketball heart and puts it in a jar. Burke takes the heart off Cristina's tray and puts it into the chest. Cut to Derek who is taking out the last bit of the tumor.

Derek sounding upset, "Well, that's the last of it."

"It's what she wanted, Dr. Shepherd," Izzie says.

"It did more damage than it did good. I hate that."

"Maybe you don't think so, but to her this is better. You helped a patient get her life back today." Derek looks at her and shakes his head up and down. Cut back to the heart transplant, the heart is now placed in the chest and beating.

"That is unbelievable. How is this man still alive?" George says.

"He is fighting, he is fighting for whatever it is he is living for. This man is a fighter for what he wants, " Burke looks at George. George looks back up at him and nods his head to tell him he understands what he is trying to tell him. "Let's get Mr. Brown closed up and back to his family."

Meredith is in the pit when Addison comes down. Addison walks up to Meredith, "Dr. Grey, are you the only one here?"

"Yes, Dr. Montgomery, everyone else is in surgery."

"Ok, you stay here then." Addison starts to walk away quickly.

Meredith shouts, "Is everything alright?"

Addison turns around, "It's my sister." Addison turns back around and continues to walk away quickly. Richard, Burke, George, and Cristina all walk out of the OR standing tall. Burke and Richard go to talk to the family as George and Cristina walk in the opposite direction.

"O'Malley!" Burke says. George turns around. "Thanks for being there."

"No, problem, Dr. Burke, thank you for the opportunity."

Burke walks into the family room where the Brown's are patiently waiting. They walk into the room where Mrs. Brown is sitting alone. "They all went home to sleep. I tried to, the bed…the bed is empty without him. Please tell me you have good news."

"Mrs. Miles, your husband has come through with flying colors and he is expected to make a full recovery," Richard happily says.

Mrs. Brown shouts out with happiness and hugs Preston and hugs Richard. "Thank you so much, doctors. He is my rock, he's all I've got."

"You will be able to see him in a little while, Mrs. Brown." Richard and Burke walk out of the room to see Cristina and George waiting outside for them. Richard walks up to George and shakes his hand. Burke walks up to Cristina and hugs her.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too."

MVO:

Maybe it's the people who you wait for. Maybe it's the time you have to wait. At the end of the day we are hoping it will be well worth the wait and lately it has been.

Addison rushes into Allison's room. Allison is in labor. "The baby wants out but you're not dilated enough to push yet."

"Just wonderful." Allison doesn't want to show it, but she is terrified. She is terrified that there may be problem with the baby and she is terrified that she will have to go through the most important moment of her life alone.

"I will be right back." Addison walks out of the room and down the hallway, she turns a corner and sees George. She walks up to George. "Dr. O'Malley, I know you have been there a long time and you probably want to go home but I need your help."

"I'll help."

"Ok good, my sister is in labor." George stops walking, Addison turns around. "Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem, I'm coming." They continue to walk and walk into Allison's room. George smiles at Allison, she smiles back at him.

Addison says to Allison, "Dr. O'Malley is going to stay with you and monitor your progress." She turns to George, "Page me if you need me, O'Malley."

"So, you want me to sit here and watch her?" George asks almost in shock in how easy he has gotten off.

"Yeah, I am pretty sure you can handle it." Addison walks out of the room. George sits down on a chair next to the bed. The interns are starting to shuffle into the locker room. Izzie walks in and sits down next to Meredith on a bench.

Izzie says, "Did you notice that George never came home last night?"

"Yeah, I wonder where he is."

"He's probably asleep in an on-call room somewhere," Cristina chimes in.

"Maybe he's at some girl's place. After the week he's had he's gotta be getting some action." Typical Alex, they all thought.

Meredith puts her scrubs on and walks out of the locker room. They all look at the door closing wondering why she didn't say anything. They all rush to get their scrubs on and hurry out after her.

Cristina notices Meredith is a little distant, "Ok, obviously something is up, talk."

"Allison went into labor, I am just worried."

"You two will get through it, let's just all hope it's McSteamy's so you don't have to deal with a little brat."

Meredith can't help but laugh, "Thanks Cristina."

Bailey walks over to them. "Alright interns, back to normal today whatever that is. Grey you're with Sloan, Karev with Shepherd, Dr. Yang and Dr. Stevens will be in the pit today."

"George is missing, Dr. Bailey," Izzie says.

"Dr. O'Malley is with Dr. Montgomery, he's fine." Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina look back and forth at each other smiling. "Why are we still standing here? MOVE!" They all scatter off.

Sloan is sitting in his office with his elbow resting on the desk as his head is resting on his hand. Meredith walks into the office and sits down at a chair in front of the desk. "You look how I feel."

Mark is relieved to see Meredith in his office, "Oh thank god I have you today, Meredith. I can't deal with anyone else today."

"You're holding up that well, huh? I take it you've heard the news."

"Yeah Addison let me know."

"I wonder how Derek is doing."

Derek is pacing in a CT tech room as Alex walks in. "Ah good Dr. Karev, glad you're here. We haven't gotten a chance to work together much."

"Are you ok, Dr. Shepherd? You're sweating…and pacing."

"My ex-wife's sister is in labor as we speak, who also happens to be the mother of my potential child. I'm fine, really." He tries to calm down so he can get through the day. He clears his throat, "So what can you tell me about this scan?"

"Bleeding on the brain. We'll need to operate right away. It seems to be progressing rather quickly."

"Very good, prep the patient for surgery, we'll be going in right away." Alex rushes out of the room and gets the patient back onto the gurney so he can prep her for surgery. Izzie and Cristina are in the pit doing sutures. They have patients right next to each other.

"Do you think he's working on her case?" Izzie asks.

"Oh hell yeah, why else would he stay here all night?"

"That boy has it bad," Izzie says as she shakes her head.

"He's a glutton for punishment."

Allison and George are laughing in her exam room. Through his laughs George says, "I can't believe you did that. That's so funny."

"Yeah I can't believe it either." They lock eyes and smile.

George breaks the trance by speaking up, "So…how are you holding up with the whole situation?"

"The baby thing I am ok with, I've had time to prepare. I wish Addison would forgive me."

"I'm sorry you have to do this all alone," George puts his hand on hers.

"Well, I'll have you in there." Addison walks into the room. George quickly pulls his hand back and stands up.

Trying to recover from his embarrassing display of affection, "Uh, she…there is no change."

Addison ignores it, "How do we proceed?"

"At this point the best thing to do is go ahead with a C-Section before the baby goes into distress."

"Very good, get her prepped, you'll be scrubbing in," Addison walks out of the room.

"Some first date, huh?" Allison says. George smiles at her.


	8. Chapter 8

Mark hangs up the phone. They are still in the office and Meredith is still sitting on the chair in front of the desk. "They're bringing her in now. I can't think about this right now, I need to do surgery." Mark and Meredith's pagers go off and they rush off. Cut to the pit where the paramedics are bringing in a man on a stretcher, he's a burn victim. The flesh on his face and neck seems to be melting off.

The patient is screaming, "I am going to sue them!" Meredith and Mark run up to the stretcher.

The EMT fills them in on the patient's details, "Michael Downing, 24, burn to the face from a hazardous corrosive substance, was de-coned at the site. Here are the MSDS." The EMT hands Mark a packet of papers.

Michael, still screaming, "I can't see! I can't see! Please tell me you'll be able to save my eyesight."

"Mr. Downing try to stay calm, I'm Dr. Sloan and this is Dr. Grey, we are going to get you into surgery right away." He turns to Meredith, "Dr. Grey, please look through these to see how long we have to save this man's eye sight. I am pretty sure we are going to have to flush his eyes before we go into surgery." Meredith takes the packet and walks along the stretcher as Mark wheels him off. They get onto the elevator as a nurse runs over with the eye flushing contraption (yeah I don't know the technical name). They hook it up to the gurney. Meredith puts towels around his chest. "Ok Mr. Downing, we are going to put these lenses on your eyes and we're going to run water to flush out your eyes, just relax, we are going to do everything in our power to save your eyesight."

"I am suing that damn company, it blew up right in my face," Michael says.

"We are going to have to get him right into surgery as soon as this eye flush is done, it's getting worse," Meredith says to Mark.

"You'll be able to fix my face?"

"We are going to try," Mark answers. No use in giving him any false hope.

"I'm supposed to be getting married next week," Michael says in a panic. Mark and Meredith just look at each other.

Derek is in the OR. "Looks like an aneurysm burst. She got in just in time. Looks like she's going to be ok." The machines start going crazy. Derek and Alex quickly look up. "She's coding, Dr. Karev start compressions."

Alex rushes to the other side of the table and starts CPR. Alex yells, "She's crashing quickly!"

Addison is beginning to take the baby out. George stands there stunned. George is holding Allison's hand. Addison holds the baby up. "Can you cut the cord, Dr. O'Malley?"

George walks over and cuts the cord and smiles. Addison brings the baby over to the table to clean him up. George follows Addison to watch. The baby starts crying. Allison looks relieved and smiles. George walks back over to Allison's head. "He's perfect."

Alex is still doing compressions in the OR. The patient flat lines.

"Dr. Karev, call it."

"Time of death 1014."

Mark and Meredith are in the OR with Michael on the table. Mark wipes his hand over his mouth and says, "We are going to be in here for a while."

"Poor guy, what a thing to happen right before your wedding," Meredith says looking down at the patientt.

"He probably won't be ready for next week but I am pretty sure I can eventually get him as close to back to normal as I can. The damage doesn't seem as bad as it looks."

Something catches Meredith's eye in the gallery, she glances up. It's Cristina and Izzie, Izzie does a rocking baby movement with her arms to signal that the baby was born. Meredith nods and focuses back on the surgery. Back up in the gallery Bailey sees them and makes them leave. They're heading down the hallway of the surgical floor passing all the ORs, Derek and Alex walk out of a door and walk right into Izzie and Cristina, "Ouch," they yelp.

"Oh I am so sorry, girls, I'm a little distracted."

"Dr. Shepherd, you may not want to say things like that as you're walking out of an OR," Izzie says.

"Oh yes of course," Derek says, half in a fog, his mind is obviously elsewhere.

"Well, we're supposed to be in the pit, "Cristina grabs Izzie's arm and they walk away. "This busy stuff better stop soon, it's like I haven't seen Burke in a week."

"Aww you miss him, that's so sweet."

"Oh Shut it, he just makes really good coffee…and toast." Ok maybe she misses him a little bit. They get onto the elevator and Burke is standing there, Izzie smiles at Cristina.

"Hey, Dr. Burke, we were just talking about your coffee," Izzie says with a huge grin on her face. Cristina elbows Izzie. Burke smiles.

"Hello Dr. Stevens and Dr. Yang."

"She means we were just talking about your 5 o'clock surgery that you're going to let me scrub in on tonight," Cristina says.

"We'll see." The elevator doors open and Burke walks out. Izzie lets out a laugh and Cristina just stares ahead.

George is in Allison's room with her as Addison brings her the baby. He has medium brown hair and big blue eyes. George can't keep his eyes off Allison and how she is just glowing. He smiles at her and she smiles back. Addison notices something going on between them.

"I have some other patients to tend to, Dr. O'Malley I don't mind you staying in here but if Dr. Bailey finds you, you're on your own."

"Thanks, Dr. Montgomery." Addison just shakes her head and leaves the room.

"He's so perfect, he can't be from Derek," Allison says, she is glowing.

"So what's his name?" George asks, changing the subject from Derek to something a little happier.

"Joshua Ryan Montgomery, the most spoiled kid in the world."

"I am not sure that will all fit on his driver's license," George teases.

"Who said I am letting him leave the house?" Allison jokes.

George looks at Josh and talks baby talk, "Don't worry Josh, I'll spring you free once in a while. Mommy can't keep you cooped up forever." George's beeper goes off. He looks down on it and his smile goes away. "Dammit, I have to go. I'll try to make it back here later."

"I'll be here. Thanks again, George, for everything." George takes her hand and opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out, they get lost in each other's eyes, she pulls him closer to her and kisses him. It's soft but passionate but it doesn't last long because the baby cries. George takes a step back and walks out.

The pit where is pure mayhem. Bailey is trying to round everyone up to give out orders, "Where is O'Malley? He got paged like everyone else." Cristina, Alex, and Izzie just look at each other and back at Bailey and shrug their shoulders. "Someone knows something and you're not telling me. You all are going to pay if O'Malley doesn't…"

George runs over and joins the group, "I got here as fast as I could, Dr. Bailey."

"Maybe they should move the baby floor a little closer to the pit then, O'Malley," Bailey retorts. George blushes and Alex pats him on the back. They follow Bailey out to the ambulance bay.

George says to Izzie as low as he can, "She kissed me. I am so tired but she kissed me."

Izzie whispers back, "Way to go, George, I'm happy for you."

EMT reads off the patient's information, "This is Rebecca Schultz, 13, hit by a car, has a broken leg, she is also bleeding from the back of the head from where she hit it on the pavement. She's been in and out of consciousness."

Bailey takes one look at Rebecca's leg and turns to Alex, "Dr. Karev, page Dr. Torres." Alex runs off to make the page. Bailey turns to Rebecca with a smile on her face, "Rebecca, my name is Dr. Bailey. Your parents are on their way, we are going to take you to get some tests done before we get your leg taken care of."

"Ok."

Callie sees Bailey and walks over. Bailey whispers into her ear, they both look at the leg and back at each other. "Dr. Karev, please get Rebecca in for a CT scan as well as x-rays. Dr. Bailey and I will meet you in there."

"Sure thing, Dr. Torres." Alex wheels Rebecca off, Callie follows.

"I am going to have to handle this as well, you interns better stay out of trouble," Bailey says sternly. Bailey rushes off to catch up with Callie and Alex. As soon as Bailey is out of sight Izzie and Cristina huddle around George.

Izzie says, "Ok, we want details."

Derek and Addison are walking down the hallway together. Addison says, "We will get the results back in a few days. Do you want to go see him?"

Derek shakes his head, "No, I am not going to see him until I know if he is mine or not."

"It's hard to tell whose he might be, he has blue eyes but so did Allison when she was born."

"Addison, I appreciate you trying to help but I really do not want any information about this kid," Derek walks away.

Mark and Meredith are in surgery.

Mark sighs, "Well, this is all I can do for today. It looks like he's going to be just fine."

"Hopefully he will get his eyesight back."

"We will find out when he wakes up," Mark takes one last look at the patient before going to scrub out.

"You really are a different person when she is around."

"Yeah I really screwed up didn't I? Let's get this guy to post op."

George, Izzie, and Cristina are eating lunch. They're all laughing as Meredith sits down to join them. "What's so funny?" Meredith inquires.

"George is running on like 4 days of no sleep and it's starting to catch up with him," Izzie explains.

"So Mer, has Derek gone to see the baby yet?" Cristina asks.

"I don't think he wants to. I feel bad for Mark, I think he really loves her."

Cristina and Izzie get all uncomfortable and clear their throats. "Uh, well, sucks to be him I guess," Izzie says bluntly.

Meredith starts to notice everyone is acting a little strange, "Ok, someone is going to tell me what's going on here."

Cristina and Izzie look at George, "I'm in love with Allison," he says then quickly changes the subject, "Do you want to go see Josh?"

"Aww his name is Josh?" Izzie gushes. Cristina kicks Izzie underneath the table. Izzie rubs her leg with a look of "ouch" on her face.

Cristina continues, "She _means_ we better not get involved with the drama."

Derek comes over and sits down with them, "Ah there you are Meredith, I haven't seen you all day."

"I was in surgery with Sloan all day."

"I see."

Meredith signals with her eyes to Cristina, George, and Izzie to go. Cristina gets the hint, "We're going to go."

Yeah we have a baby to see," Izzie says. Izzie, George, and Cristina get up and rush off.

Derek looks to Meredith, "Here we are alone finally."

"Almost alone, just with other people around."

"All I see is you." God, Derek that was so corny, "I've missed you, I know I haven't been myself lately. I want to make it up to you."

"It's ok, Derek, I understand. I've been stressed out too because of this whole thing."

"You're not getting out of this that easily. We are going to go out on a date, a real date, with romance and flowers and feeling you up and all that other stuff that you want."

Meredith giggles, "You sure know the way into a girl's heart, you know that."

Izzie, George, and Cristina are in the baby wing looking at all the babies. Josh is right in the first row of babies from the window. George points to him, "There he is, right there. Joshua Ryan."

"He's adorable!" Izzie squeals.

"He's so…..McStreamy," Cristina adds. Izzie and George both look at Cristina. "Fine, he's McBaby until we find out who the father is and then he's getting a better nickname."

"He looks like he could be either Derek's or Mark's. Who does she want to be the father, George?" Izzie inquires.

"Sloan, she's not too fond of Shepherd," George replies.

"And yet she slept with him…twice," Cristina says.

"Yeah, we don't need to be reminded," George grumbles.

Cristina's beeper goes off. She looks down, "It's Burke, gotta go. Don't stare at the babies too long, you might catch the fever." Cristina rushes off. George and Izzie take one last look before they too head out.

Mark is standing in Allison's doorway. She doesn't notice him yet because she is talking to a nurse. The nurse walks out and she looks up and sees him. She's not happy to see him. He walks in and sits down on the chair next to her bed. "Ally, you make me a better person. Ever since you've been here I've felt more alive. I know I've messed up but let me make it up to you." No please don't look at me like that, he thinks to himself.

"Mark stop right there, I don't want to hear any more of it. It's too late for you and me. You came here to be with Addy, so go be with her. We will never be again." It pains her that he is trying so hard but she will not let herself make the same mistake she had made once before. She worked so hard to repair when he had broken her so many times before and she finally feels like she is moving forward.

Mark stands up and puts his face really close to hers and looks into her eyes. She tries to look away but he pulls her face back to face him and holds it there. They have an intense moment of just looking into each other's eyes and a tear rolls down Allison's cheek. Mark wipes it away. "I love you, Allison." Mark walks away and out of the door.

The interns in are the locker room changing out of their scrubs and into their regular clothes.

"So I never got a chance to react to the bombshell you dropped earlier, George," Meredith mentions.

"Yeah? I know what you're thinking, but she's really great."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt."

George is just about fed up with everyone thinking that Allison is such an awful person. He wishes that for once they would let him live his life. Maybe she will be leaving soon, but he wants to enjoy the time he has with her while she's still here. What is so wrong about that? "What makes you think she's going to hurt me? You don't even know her. You guys never like anyone that I do, you just don't want to see me happy." George grabs his bag, slams the locker door, and storms off.

Cristina looks at Meredith in shock, "Way to go, Mer, you hurt baby bear's feelings."

"How was I supposed to know he'd get so upset?"

Izzie walks over to them, "Alex and I are going to Joe's, you guys wanna come with us?"

"Hell yeah, I need a drink or twelve," Cristina says as she slings her bag over her shoulder

"You guys go ahead, I'll meet you there," Meredith says. Alex, Izzie, and Cristina leave and Meredith walks out of the locker room to look for Addison. Addison is standing by the nurse's station looking at a patient's chart. "Addison, can I talk to you about something?"

"Yeah, sure Meredith, what's up?"

"How are you holding up with this whole thing? The only reason I ask is because you're almost in the same boat as I am right now and I just want to see if you feel how I do."

Addison is honored that someone finally thought about her feelings in this. She is amazed that it is Meredith to show interest, she sighs, "I am hurt by everyone involved. It just hurts, yeah hurt is the best word for it. I was angry but that has passed but I am still very hurt by the fact that my sister not only slept with my husband but Mark as well. Yes technically I took Mark away from her but he was still with me when she did it. I know it sounds so messed up but it all comes down to the fact that here I am divorced and alone and hurting from the inside out. I hope that answered your question for you because I think I confused myself."

"I understand, you didn't confuse me too much. I am just so worried that this baby is going to be Derek's and we will have to deal with all the drama that comes next." She pauses, "Not to mention that George now has a thing for your sister."

"Yeah I sensed that earlier. She's going to be leaving after she finds out who the father is so you won't have anything to worry about."

Allison is in her room where she is sitting up in bed and reading books about having a newborn baby. She hears a knock on the door. She looks up from her book. "Come in!"

Richard opens the door, steps inside, and closes the door behind him. He walks over to Allison and gives her a kiss on the cheek. He sits down in the chair next to her bed. "So many things have happened in this hospital since you've gotten here and we haven't had a chance to talk."

"Yeah I know, you had that guy with the heart thing and then I went into labor."

"So I have been filled in on your situation," he begins. Allison opens her mouth to speak but he interrupts. "Let me finish." Allison closes her mouth. "Now I don't want this baby growing up without his father and it just so happens my assistant is retiring soon and I was wondering if you wanted to take her place. You don't have to answer me right away but think about it. You can get back to me before you leave…or stay." He smiles

"Before a few days ago I would have told you I'm sorry but no thank you, however, recent events have made me think that maybe Seattle isn't so bad."

"So…you're in?" he asks anxiously.

"I'm in," she says with a smile. Richard gives her a hug, shakes her hand, and walks out of the room.


	9. Chapter 9

In the morning with Derek and Meredith lying in bed. Meredith wakes up and turns over to see Derek staring into her eyes. She smiles at him and he smiles back. Meredith groans and says, "How long have you been up?"

"Not long, you look like an angel when you sleep, you know that?"

"I have to make up for my dark and twisty ways somehow," she jokes. They lean in to kiss but get interrupted by a knock on the door. They stop, scowl, and look at the door. The door squeaks open and George peaks his head in.

"You guys ready to go yet?" George asks.

Meredith is beyond angry, she yells, "GEORGE! We just woke up. You really should be catching up on your sleep."

"I'm fine really, hurry up let's go." He closes the door but shortly opens it back up. "Good morning Dr. Shepherd," he sings.

Derek waves, "O'Malley." George closes the door and walks away, Derek looks to Meredith, "What's gotten into him?"

"A girl with green eyes," Meredith mutters.

At the hospital Addison is working up the courage to talk to Mark. He is standing at the nurse's station reading a chart. He puts the chart back down and starts to walk away. Addison walks up to him, "Hey Mark, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for a drink later on tonight."

"We'll see, Addison, I may be busy," Mark says coldly, barely even looking at her. He walks away and leaves her standing there stunned. Cut to Allison's room where she is rocking Josh, Addison storms in.

"What did you say to him?" Addison yells.

"What are you talking about?" Allison asks, confused why she is being yelled at.

"Oh you know damn well what I am talking about. Mark, before you showed up we were patching things up. Now he won't even look at me."

"And of course this is my fault because everything horrible that happens to you is my fault."

"So what is it?" Addison says in a lower tone.

Allison sighs, she doesn't want to break her sister's heart. Addison doesn't break eye contact with her, "He told me that he loves me, Addison."

"This is all your fault, Ally." Addison storms out of the room, Josh starts crying. Meredith and Derek are looking tired and walking into the building followed by George and Izzie smiling and laughing behind them. They get into the doors of the hospital, Derek and Meredith walk in separate directions while George and Izzie walk faster to keep up with Meredith.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a bit, I am going to stop by Allison's room," George says. George walks off, Meredith and Izzie continue on to the locker room. Cristina is already in the locker room putting on her scrub shirt.

"I can't wait until Allison leaves. I love George but he needs to be stopped," Meredith mumbles, she can barely form words because she is so tired.

Cristina asks Izzie, "What happened this time?"

"George was up at an ungodly hour waking us all up to get ready to come here. He misses her, it's so sweet."

"It's so disgusting," Cristina says with a scowl on her face.

"It's so tiring," Meredith says as she yawns.

George is walking down the hallways of maternity with a cup of coffee in one hand and a flower in the other. He walks into Allison's room while she is breast feeding. He drops the flower and barely keeps a handle on the coffee. He blushes and turns around to face the other way. "I uh….brought you coffee…and uh well a flower that I seem to have dropped," George says nervously. George picks up the flower. "I could come back later."

Allison laughs, "No, you are going to stay right here with me. Don't be nervous, it's just a breast, you have seen them before haven't you?"

"Of course I have, plenty of times, but not like too many or anything, but enough…I know what they look like." George can't believe what a babbling fool he has turned into. He shakes his head at himself.

"You're still not looking," she teases. George slowly turns around and smiles. He walks over to the bed and sits down in the chair. He hands her the coffee and puts the flower in a cup with water already in it. "Ok, that was my drinking water." She can't stop herself from laughing.

"I am so sorry," he says, embarrassed.

"Don't worry about it. I have coffee now. I also have some good news for you." George's eyes perk up.

Addison walks up to the lab tech window. Derek is already there. Mark walks over. Addison and Mark wind up at the window next to Derek at the same time. Addison smiles at him, he nods to her.

"Come on, where are those labs?" Derek says, practically screaming at the tech.

"I told you already Dr. Shepherd, they're not in yet," the lab tech explains.

"It looks like we all had the same idea," Addison says.

Derek turns around to face Addison when he hears her voice, "Yeah, they're not in yet." Derek's beeper goes off. "I have to take this." He turns back to face the lab tech, "This isn't over! I'll be back and the labs better be in." Derek storms off.

"What's _his _problem?" the lab tech asks.

"Probably woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or something. When those labs come in can you page me right away, I won't bother you," Mark replies.

"You won't?" the lab tech asks, stunned. Normally Mark always gives him a hard time about lab results.

"Yeah, you won't?" Addison repeats.

"No I won't." Mark walks away.

"That was weird," the lab tech says.

"Tell me about it," Addison, concurs. Addison's beeper goes off and she walks away.

The interns are waiting for Bailey to give them their orders.

Meredith looks around for George but doesn't see him, "George is going to wind up in the pit if he doesn't get here soon."

"More the like morgue, he's been late way too many times lately," Cristina says.

"Where is O'Malley?" Bailey asks.

Izzie leans over to whisper to Alex, "How does she always sneak up on us like that?" Alex uses his hand to say she's short and they laugh.

George runs over as he's putting his stethoscope around his neck, "I'm here, I'm here."

"You're late…again. No surgeries for you today O'Malley."

"I'm so sorry Dr. Bailey."

"You're damn right you're sorry. You better get your act together. I don't know what's gotten into you but you better fix it. You're on labs, post-ops, and discharges." George's mouth gets wider and wider with each task she names. Cristina giggles behind him. "O'Malley, get going, everyone else come with me." George walks away and everyone else follows Bailey.

"Satan's sister doesn't seem so wonderful now, does she?" Cristina snickers.

"Cristina!" Meredith yells.

"What? You know you were all thinking it. I mean seriously, it's like he's been brainwashed."

"He's in love!" Izzie says. Meredith and Cristina just look at Izzie with disgust on their faces.

Bailey stops walking, they all stop. She turns around to face all of them. "I am sure Dr. O'Malley's love life is thrilling but what you're about to see is very serious so I need you all to be quiet and get focused." The smiles on all their faces quickly change to frowns. Bailey takes a deep breath, "This morning there was a high speed police chase that ended up plowing right through an elementary school playground. There will be a lot of kids and a lot of parents and a lot of scared and in pain people so I need you all to be on top of your game more than ever today or you can join Dr. O'Malley running labs. Does anyone want to join Dr. O'Malley?"

They all shake their heads no. Bailey opens the door to an ER waiting room filled with children in beds, parents near their children, parents trying to locate their child, children running all around, police men trying to settle everyone down. They all stand in the doorway in shock, mouths wide open in horror. They each run over to a gurney. Derek, Addison, Callie, Burke, and Mark all rush into the pit and stop short for a second when they see the mayhem, and then they start to talk to the police to see who they should be attending to first. The police point over to a bed where there lay a 5 year old girl unconscious and her father standing over her with a blank look on his face and staring at her. Derek slowly walks over to him, "Hi, I am Dr. Shepherd, Mr….?"

"Kline, Stephen Kline. This is my daughter Krista. She's…is she going to be ok?"

"I need to get her in for an MRI and a CT to see if there is any damage to her brain right away. Is your wife on her way? I'll have the nurses look out for her."

"My wife is dead."

Awkwardly, "Oh, I am sorry. We're going to get going right away." He starts to push the bed out the door. He turns around to look for an intern. He sees George walking towards him. "Dr. O'Malley if I need you I am going to have a nurse page you, for now we need you to stay here and help."

"But I am being punished, Dr. Shepherd, no surgeries today."

Derek almost fed up, "Look, Dr. O'Malley we don't have time for this. I will talk to Dr. Bailey." Derek continues to push the gurney out of the pit. George continues to walk into the pit. Dr. Bailey locks eyes with him and walks over to him.

Bailey snaps, "Is there something I can help you with, Dr. O'Malley?"

George gulps, "Dr. Shepherd told me to help; it looks like you need help."

Bailey turns around to see all the chaos; she realizes that they do need lots of help. She turns back around to face George. She sighs, "Ok, but this isn't over. I will not have you waltzing in whenever you feel like it. Do you understand me, Dr. O'Malley?"

"Yes, ma'am, Dr. Bailey."

"Well what are you standing there for O'Malley? Get going."

George runs over to a bed to assess a patient. Callie joins him at a patient's bed, "What do we have here, Dr. O'Malley?"

"Looks like multiple fractures, an x-ray will show us more."

"Are his parents here?" Callie asks as nurse.

"Not yet, we called the mother but she is in court and they won't interrupt her."

"Court?" Callie asks.

"Yes, his mother is Judge Patrice." They both stop in their tracks for a second. George and Callie both look at each other, back at the nurse, then continue wheeling the bed. Callie whispers to George, "Let's just hope it's nothing more than a few breaks." To the patient, "Hi, Justin, I am Dr. Torres and we are going to be taking care of you. We need you to stay as still as possible."

"Everything hurts, Dr. Torres," Justin says as he winces in pain.

"You got hit pretty hard, we are going to take some pictures to get a better look at you, ok?"

Another ambulance pulls up to the bay door, the doors fly open, and they start wheeling the cop (driver) out. His face is all bloody and a little out of it since he hit his head on the steering wheel pretty hard. Bailey runs over to the stretcher.

EMT reads off his information, "This is the driver of the police car, Officer Frye. He hit head on the steering wheel, looks like a broken nose."

Bailey yells across the pit to Alex, "Dr. Karev, grab Dr. Sloan and come take care of Officer Frye."

Alex taps Mark on the arm, Mark turns around, Alex points to the stretcher, Mark grabs Alex's arm and walking over to the stretcher. "Hi, Officer Frye, I am Dr. Sloan, head of plastics here at Seattle Grace. This is Dr. Karev who is going to be assisting me." They shake hands

"Good to meet you, Dr. Sloan, I have heard good things about you. That's why I requested to be taken here," the officer says with a smile.

Mark smiles smugly. Alex starts to wheel the stretcher off to take some x-rays and Mark walks along side him. "Karev, I want you to get some x-rays of his chest as well to make sure he has no broken ribs."

"So, Officer Frye, what were you chasing the guy for?" Alex asks.

Mark says to the officer, "Pay no attention to him, Officer, he's just an intern." Mark and Officer Frye both laugh and Alex just scowls.

Derek is in a CT tech room looking at Krista's scans. He has a worried look on his face as he turns around to pick up the phone. He dials. Cut to George in the x-ray room, his pager goes off. He picks up the phone to call Derek back.

"Ok…ok…ok, I'll be right there." George says over the phone. Callie looks up at him, disappointed, he turns to Callie. "Are you going to be ok here? Dr. Shepherd needs me."

"Yeah, I'll be fine, I am getting used to this from you," she snaps. Ouch, that hurt, George opens his mouth to say something then closes it. "You know what, George, don't even bother. I don't want to hear it from you anymore. Have fun with Addison's sister who will only be here for another day or two and then you'll never see her again. Who also slept with Sloan, by the way, I don't know if you remember that little tidbit."

"She's not going anywhere," he says with a bit of attitude, George walks out of the room. Callie stands there stunned.

Addison is walking down the hallway towards the lab tech window. He hands her an envelope. She takes it and walks away without looking at it. She walks passed an open elevator door where Derek and George are standing with the gurney. Derek sees Addison just as the doors are closing.

"Dammit! We have to go back," Derek yells. Derek reaches to stop the elevator, but George grabs his wrist.

"Dr. Shepherd, we have a patient!" George says.

"I have to find out," Derek says with desperation.

"This girl is 5 and may never wake up. It is your job to do every thing you can to save her. You can find out later. She is all this man has."

"Oh my god, you're right. I don't know what's gotten into me." Derek runs his fingers through his hair. "She drives me insane."

"Let's just worry about this little girl now and everything else later."

"You do know I am your boss, right?"

"Someone needed to say it." The elevator doors open and they walk out.

Mark and Alex are in the OR. "I wish Allison would stay," Alex says.

Mark looks up at Alex, "Why is that?"

"When she is here I actually get to scrub in on surgeries."

"Yeah well she's not. I have a lot of backed up dry cleaning to get done so you can handle that," Mark snips at him.

"Dude…never mind.," Alex gives up, it's not worth it to even argue with him.

"Dr. Karev, would you like to finish up?" Mark asks.

"Yes sir, Dr. Sloan."

"Come on over." Alex walks over to Mark's side of the table and takes over. Mark watches over him closely.


	10. Chapter 10

Addison is walking down the halls of maternity and into Allison's room. She walks over and throws the folder onto Allison's lap, Allison takes the folder. Addison sits down on the chair next to the bed. "I didn't look. I figured you'd want to be the first to know."

"I think I am going to wait."

"Seriously? The whole reason you're here is to find out. Open the folder, Ally," Addison demands. She can't even stand not knowing anymore.

"I have other reasons now."

"You're going to break that poor boy's heart. You lured him in and now you're just going to leave him heart broken. It's just like you."

"Addison, I am not leaving," Allison reluctantly says. Addison looks up quickly with a shocked look on her face.

"What are you talking about? You have to leave."

"Richard offered me a job here and I accepted. I am not going anywhere. And before you say anything do not be self centered and think this is about you. For once this is about me and what makes me happy, something you know nothing about. You took everything away from me, now you know how it feels. Feels great, doesn't it?"

Addison is furious at first but she also is just so tired of fighting with her sister, "You…I really…I am sorry for what I did to you."

"I am sorry too, Addy." Addison stands up and hugs Allison.

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Addison asks anxiously. Allison opens the folder.

Burke is in the OR with Cristina. "It looks like she has a hole in her heart. It's a good thing we caught this when we did," Burke says.

"Did you ever go out with Skylar?" Cristina asks out of nowhere, it had been weighing on her ever since Skylar had shown up.

"Excuse me, Dr. Yang?"

Cristina hangs her head, "I'm sorry, it's been killing me and this is the only place I see you anymore."

Burke is beyond angry that she would bring this up in the middle of a surgery, "Dr. Yang, this is not the place to discuss this."

"But…"

"CRISTINA!" he yells. The OR goes silent. Everyone just stands still making eye contact with one another very awkwardly. Burke looks back down at the patient as does Cristina.

Cristina whispers, "I'm sorry."

Burke mutters back, "You know I don't like talking about our personal lives at work."

Cristina, "I know, it won't happen again."

Burke sighs, "We never went out, we were just friends." Burke smiles and Cristina smiles back at him. He goes back to doing the surgery. "Ah…now that looks more like a healthy heart."

Derek is in the OR. "Well I got the bleeding to stop. There is still a lot of damage. Let's hope she wakes up."

"Is there anything else we can do, Dr. Shepherd?" George asks.

"We can pray that everything will turn out ok. Do you want to update Mr. Kline on what's going on and tell him I will be with him to explain in more detail in a little while? I am going to finish up in here."

"Sure thing."

Meredith and Dr. Bailey are getting the last of the kids sutured up in the pit. Cristina walks in and sits down next to Meredith. "Oh good, you're here to help," Meredith says.

"Yeah right, I don't do stitch and wrap," Cristina replies.

"You might want to change your tune, Dr. Yang, before "stitch and wrap" is all you see for a month," Bailey snaps.

Cristina puts on a smile, "Of course Dr. Bailey, I'm happy to help." Cristina takes a seat with a kid who is next to Meredith. "I'm Dr. Yang, I am here to get you stitched up." She turns to Meredith, "Burke never went out with Skylar."

"Seriously…You're still on that?" Meredith asks.

"I haven't seen him much since she was here. I just needed to know. So, any word on the baby situation?"

"No word."

"Um, hello, can I get stitched up so I can go?" the kid asks. Meredith laughs and Cristina just glares at him.

Derek walks into the recovery room where Krista Kline is and her father (Stephen) is sitting on a chair by her bed. Stephen sees Derek walk into the room and he stands up to shake Derek's hand. "Please tell me you have good news, Dr. Shepherd."

"It's too soon to tell if the news will be good or bad, Mr. Kline, all I can tell you right now is that I stopped the bleeding on her brain. There was a lot of damage and as of right now she's still in a coma. I will know more tomorrow of what her outcome will look like."

"I don't know what I am going to do if I lose her. She's all I have."

"We're doing everything we can, Mr. Kline, I assure you." Stephen looks at Krista and back at Derek and he has tears coming from his eyes. Derek puts his hand on Stephen's shoulder to show his comfort and then walks away. Derek goes to the elevator, the doors open and Mark is standing there with his arms folded. Derek lets out a laugh and steps in. "Looks like we had the same idea."

"Yeah, the results are in, I got a page."

Derek furrows his eyebrows, "You got a page? I didn't get a page. How come I didn't get a page?"

Mark laughs, "Maybe because you were acting like a lunatic with the lab tech."

"He was just surprised it wasn't you that was treating him like that," Derek says as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"I surprise myself sometimes." The elevator doors open on their floor. Addison is standing there when they open. She smiles at them and walks in between them to get onto the elevator. They look at each other and the continue walking to Allison's room. Mark walks in followed by Derek. She looks up and is surprised to see both of them standing in her room at the same time.

"Good evening, gentlemen. I'm glad you came together so I only have to do this once," Allison pleasantly says.

"Spit it out, Allison," Derek snaps.

"Ooo feisty. It really doesn't suit you, Derek," Allison teases.

Mark starts to become impatient, "Come on Ally…"

"Alright alright, he's Mark's."

Derek lets out a big sigh of relief and pats Mark on the back. "Well it was nice seeing you, Allison, do you need a ride to the airport?"

"Oh, I knew I was forgetting something. I'm not going home." Mark smiles and Derek runs his fingers through his hair in panic.

"Why? I thought you were going. Did this guy say something to you to change your mind?" Derek says as he gives Mark an evil look.

"It's amazing you and Addy didn't stay together, you have the same train of thought. Richard asked me to stay."

"Of course he did, that seems to be the running theme around here," Derek says disgusted that his mentor, his boss, his friend would do this to him.

"Well I am sorry Derek, but this is not about you. We had two meaningless nights together. Stop being selfish and think about the fact that I want my son to grow up with his father in his life, I figured you would understand, I think we know someone who didn't and how she turned out because of it."

How dare she bring Meredith up like that. She has no right, she doesn't know what she's talking about. Furious, Derek storms out of the room. Mark walks over to the chair by the bed and sits down. "You really have a way with people, don't you?"

"Yeah well, I am not a fan of Derek's."

"What happened between you two?" Mark inquires.

Allison is unsure if she should tell him but she does, "He told me he loved me. He didn't, obviously. I said it back and he proceeded to take it back and make me feel foolish," Mark is speechless. She pauses, "Anyway, we have things to discuss."

"First things first, I want to see my son."

Derek walks into Addison's office where she is sitting at her desk reading a book. "By the look of your hair I can tell you've heard the news."

"Yeah, I am glad he's not mine but why does she have to stay?" Derek says as he paces back and forth.

"Richard's assistant is retiring and Allison is going to take her place. It's not as bad as it seems, Derek. I think you need to calm down."

"I can't believe you are defending her," he says.

"She is my sister, Derek."

Derek leans with one arm on the doorway and buries his head into his arm and says, "I can't breathe with her here."

Addison quickly looks up from her book. "Oh my god, you did mean it, didn't you?" He looks at her with his puppy dog eyes then walks out of the room.


	11. Chapter 11

The interns are all getting dressed in their normal clothes. Izzie still has her shirt off and Derek walks in. "Uh hi, Dr. Shepherd," Izzie awkwardly says as she quickly covers herself.

"Derek, people are getting undressed in here!" Meredith says.

"They are? I hadn't noticed. I'm sorry. I need to talk to you…later. We can go on that date I promised you."

"Is this what you call being romantic?" Meredith asks.

"This is what I call being in panic. I'll see you at home then." Derek walks towards the door to leave. He stops in the doorway and turns around. "Sorry for walking in on you Dr. Stevens." He proceeds to walk out.

"That was a bit McMysterious, don't you think?" Cristina says.

"Seriously," Izzie agrees.

"Maybe it's nothing. Maybe he is just messing with me," Meredith says trying to weigh out all the options she does not want to factor in her head.

"That was not messing, that was pure horror," Cristina states.

"You don't think it's his, do you?" Meredith asks in a panic. Izzie and Cristina just look at each other. "Oh god." Meredith slams her head into her locker door. George walks in.

Cristina grabs him by the collar of his shirt, "Listen George, we know you know so just tell us."

"Cristina, let him go," Izzie says as she tries to pries Cristina's hands from George's shirt.

"I don't even know what you're talking about!" George exclaims.

"Don't play dumb, we know you spend all your free time with Satan's sister so you know and we need to know," Cristina says.

"Well this time I was spending my free time breaking Callie's heart so no I don't know." Cristina lets go of his shirt. He adjusts himself and walks to his locker. Meredith motions with her eyes to Cristina to apologize to George.

Cristina mumbles, "Sorry for grabbing you, gotta go, bye." Cristina scurries out of the locker room.

Mark still in Allison's room where he is sitting in the chair with Josh in his arms. "So let me get this straight. O'Malley is the reason you won't take me back."

"He is not the reason, you are the reason. He is just a bonus. You should try to make it work with Addison, Mark."

Cut to Cristina and Burke on the way home. Burke is driving and Cristina is in the passenger's seat. "I am so glad we don't have any of that drama going on with us."

"What drama?" Burke asks.

"You mean to tell me you don't know what's going on?"

"No clue."

"Addison's sister came here pregnant," Cristina begins.

"Wait, Addison has a sister?"

"Burke, don't interrupt, this is a long story. So anyway…"

Meredith is walking in the door of the house, closing it, wondering where Derek is. Derek calls from the kitchen, "In the kitchen." Meredith walks into the kitchen and sits down at the table where Derek is sitting. There are flowers in a vase on the table, the table is set, there is one single candle in the middle of the table.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I know how you close the door." He smiles. "I made dinner."

"Dinner, dinner is a good thing, right? I mean you're eating, so it's not like you're depressed or anything. But there are flowers and a candle so…"

"Meredith…the baby isn't mine." Derek pours some wine.

"Well that's good, but there is wine…that means you have more to tell me. Should I drink this now?"

"I would." Meredith picks up her glass and takes a sip. "Allison is staying in Seattle and working in the hospital." Meredith spits her wine out all over Derek. He looks down at his shirt and back up at Meredith.

Cristina and Burke make it to the door of their apartment. Cristina is still telling the story, "So now we don't know if the baby is Shepherd's or Sloan's but Shepherd was acting all weird before so it may be his." Burke opens the door and they walk in.

"Wow…that's all I can say. I think I am better off not knowing these things."

Izzie and George walk into the house and walk into the kitchen where Derek has his shirt off and ringing out his shirt into the sink. Izzie starts laughing, "My how the tables have turned, Dr. Shepherd."

"It's wine, all over my shirt!" Derek whines.

"Sorry, you told me to drink," Meredith says, trying to hold in her laughter. Izzie walks out of the kitchen. George still stands in the doorway and shakes his head. "So did you find out, George?"

"Yeah I did." George walks out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Well I guess my romantic dinner is ruined," Derek says as he throws his wine stained shirt onto the table.

Meredith shrugs, "There is always next time. Let's go to bed."

"Yes, let's."

George is sleeping when a hand runs through his hair. George opens his eyes, looks up, and smiles and Allison smiles back at him. George had a chair pulled up next to the bed and his feet up on another chair as his head rested on the side of the bed. She's holding Josh in her arms, he is sleeping.

Allison whispers, "Josh is sleeping so I turned off the alarm. I don't want you to be late for rounds again. Go home and get ready. I am pretty sure I am being discharged today, unless Addison wants to torture me a little more."

"If she doesn't I'll have a stern talking with her."

Allison giggles, "Yeah right, I don't think anyone has had a stern talking with her in her whole life."

"Ok I'll see you later." George kisses Allison goodbye. "Bye Josh." Then he kisses Josh on the forehead. George picks up his bag and walks towards the door, turns around the doorway and waves. Cut to Meredith's house where Izzie is walking down the hallway to George's room. She knocks on the door, no answer, knocks again, no answer, opens the door to see an empty room.

Izzie shouts loud enough for the whole house to hear, "George is missing again!" Then to herself says, "OO, I get the shower first!" Izzie heads to the bathroom. Meredith and Derek are in bed lying on their backs looking up at the ceiling. They're under the blankets but you can tell by their shoulders that they are both naked.

"I like the baby isn't mine sex, it's good…great sex," Meredith says, sounding very satisfied.

"It is isn't it? I should maybe get girls pregnant more often."

Meredith's smile turns into a frown, looks at him, and smacks him in the arm. Derek starts laughing. "You sure do know how to ruin an after sex buzz." Derek kisses her and they start to kiss more passionately. They hear the door open and close.

Derek looks up, "That, my dear, is the sound of George trying to sneak back into the house. See I told you I knew door closes."

"You're insane." They go back to kissing.

Everyone is in the locker room but Cristina. She comes bolting in, rushes to her locker, throws her clothes off, grabs some scrubs and quickly puts them on. Everyone is looking at her and she finally notices. "I am NEVER late!" she yells. She grabs her stethoscope and rushes out of the room, seconds later she comes back in. "Oh, I'm not late?"

Meredith cannot control her laughing, "No you're not."

"So what's up, Speedy Dresser?" Izzie smiles as she is proud of herself for coming up with the nickname.

"Burke. He never went out with Skylar but she does have a major crush on him."

"Oh here we go again," Meredith says as she rolls her eyes.

"Didn't she like go back to the other side of the country?" Izzie asks.

"There are planes…and trains…and other forms of transportation."

"But she isn't the one and only Cristina Yang, you have nothing to worry about," Meredith teases.

"That's Dr. Cristina Yang. Anyway, I am not worried." They all head outside to wait for Bailey. They're all standing up against a wall.

It's Meredith's turn to share, "So, the baby isn't Derek's."

"That's good news."

"Yeah but…"

"Wait there is a but? Why is there a but?" Cristina interrupts.

"Allison isn't leaving; she's going to be the Chief's new assistant."

"Ohhh…well, it's not like he likes her or anything so now _you _are the one with nothing to worry about," Cristina says.

Izzie notices George is quiet. "So George, where were you last night?"

George has to come up with an excuse quick. What can he say? What can he say? Oh he's got it, "On call."

Alex doesn't skip a beat, "Dude, no you weren't, I was."

"Thanks a lot, Alex. I couldn't sleep so I came here to be with Allison. Are you happy now?"

"So is she really staying, George?" Izzie asks.

"Yes she is," George says as he can't hide his smile.

Bailey walks up to them but she isn't her usual "Nazi" self. She looks like she's sick and in pain. She hardly has any energy. The interns notice it right away. "Are you ok Dr. Bailey?" George asks.

"I think it's the flu or something. I'm fine," Bailey says as she puts the back of her hand to her forehead.

Izzie mumbles, "We've heard that before." Alex snickers and they give each other a low five out of sight.

"Let us just take your temperature, Dr. Bailey," Cristina says, hoping she could be the one who gets to diagnose Bailey.

"You will do no such thing, let's get started."

They're walking through the halls of the hospital following Bailey. No one is saying anything, not even Bailey. It's an uncomfortable silence and you can see it on all their faces. Derek comes walking over with a chart in his hand. "Dr. Bailey, I was wondering if I could borrow……are you feeling alright?"

"It's just the flu, nothing I can't handle Dr. Shepherd."

"Very well, I was wondering if you could spare Dr. O'Malley."

"He's supposed to be banned from surgery today."

"This is about a case we were working on the other day though."

Bailey is in no mood to argue with him any longer, her patience is thin, "Whatever you say, you're the boss."

"I am, aren't I?" He smiles. "Come Dr. O'Malley." George follows Derek down the hall. They go into a CT Tech room. He puts some films up on the light box. "Krista's brain is improving but when I did a CT there is something that came up on the scan that I think is causing everything. I will have to go in today to see up close what it is, we may be able to save this girl after all."

"That's good news. Why do you think it didn't show up before?"

"Unexpected things have ways up popping up out of nowhere sometimes." Derek chuckles to himself.

"I'm sorry, I don't get what's funny."

"My previous sentence has been story of my life lately. I just find it ironic."

"Is there something you want to talk about, Dr. Shepherd?"

The truth is Derek couldn't talk about it even if he wanted to, especially not with George, "Just take good care of her, ok," he says, "Wow, I know I've heard that somewhere before."

"You've said it before…and don't worry, I will. I always take care of my ladies. Are you upset that she's staying?"

"No, I think everything is going to be just fine." He Sighs, "Let's go tell Mr. Kline the good news."


	12. Chapter 12

Bailey and the interns are passing the OR board. Bailey stops, they all stop. She stares at the board, they look at the board.

Cristina speaks up for the group since they all are looking confused as to where Bailey is taking the, "Dr. Bailey, if you don't mind me asking what are we doing?"

"I am thinking, Dr. Yang."

"Thinking?" Cristina repeats.

Bailey shouts, "Yes thinking, I know you're not deaf." She puts her hand to her head again and this time gets a little wobbly. "I need to sit for a second." She sits in a chair.

The interns continue to look at each other. Nobody knows what to do next. They all just stand there awkwardly waiting for the next instruction. The Chief walks by and smiles at them. "Good morning, everyone." He starts to walk away when he notices Bailey sitting on the chair with her head in her hands. "Dr. Bailey, is everything alright?"

Izzie answers for her, "She just has the flu, sir, she's just showing us the OR board and how it works."

"Oh, very well then. I'll get out of your way." The chief walks away and they all breathe a sigh of relief. A nurse is walking by with a cup of water and Cristina grabs the water out of her hand as she's walking by.

"Hey!" the nurse yells.

"Sorry, it's for Bailey." She wasn't really sorry, Cristina was rarely sorry for anything she did. Cristina hands the cup to Bailey, she drinks it.

Meredith asks, "Dr. Bailey, do you need us to call your husband? Or at least let us take a look at you, you're not well."

Bailey starts to grow more agitated with them, "What I need is for you suck ups to stop trying to cure me and head to the pit, all of you." They all groan and head down to the pit. As soon as they get to the pit they are met with a room full of nurses and doctors running over to a gurney. On the gurney is a 24 year old man with dark spiky hair with brown eyes and very handsome. He is wearing a shirt and tie and a nice pair of black slacks.

EMT reads off patient's info, "This is Gianni, 24 year old male who is having hallucinations due to schizophrenia."

"No, wrong, I am not crazy." In the same breath he yells, "You have 10 heads doctor!" Then his voice gets back to normal, "I am sorry; I have not slept in a whole week. That is why I am acting like this."

"Oh forget this, guys, this is obviously a psych case," Cristina says, totally dismissing him. They start to walk away towards another patient.

"Someone get Dr. Shepherd, he knows me!" Gianni says, the interns quickly turn back around. The he yells, "Stop looking at me like that, rock monster. Just because you're made of rocks doesn't mean you're better than me." They go back to facing away from him.

"He could have read somewhere about Derek, right?" Meredith asks.

"Dude, the guy is just insane," Alex rationalizes.

"I think he's kinda cute," Izzie says.

"Seriously, Izzie, you need to get laid," Cristina says.

The psych interns start to wheel Gianni away as Derek is walking passed the pit he stops short and walks towards the gurney. George taps Meredith on the arm and points over to Derek who is now stopping the gurney.

"This is our patient, this is totally psych," the psych intern insists.

"This is not your patient, this is my patient now. I am an attending and you do as I say," Derek says sternly.

"But…"

"I know this man from New York, he suffers from insomnia."

Dr. Bailey is walking very slowly through the halls of the hospital. She is sweating and wobbling as she walks through the halls. She can barely keep her balance as she holds onto the walls to stay standing up. She sees Burke in the distance so she tries to stand up as straight as she can and look as normal as she can as he starts to walk towards her. "It's good to see you, Miranda, I was wondering if you wanted to scrub in on a surgery I have coming up in a few minutes."

"No thanks, Dr. Burke, I uh have to be going now." She quickly turns around and goes into the elevator. She rests her head on the wall of the elevator as she puts the back of her hand to her forehead.

"You may be able to hide from the men, Miranda, but you can't hide from me," Addison says.

Bailey quickly turns around to see Addison standing on the other side of the elevator facing Bailey with her hands folded across her chest. "It's…just…the flu." Bailey says while taking deep breaths in between words.

"As I said, you can't fool me, there is something seriously wrong with you Miranda, we need to get you checked out." Bailey turns to Addison to say something but then falls down and passes out. Addison rushes to her aid as the doors of the elevator open she drags Bailey out. Addison yells, "Someone get a gurney over here now!"

Derek is walking down the hallway with Gianni on his gurney and all the interns following beside the bed. They're all intrigued as Derek explains to them his unique situation. "He wears a stopwatch on his wrist that documents how long he has been awake. Dr. Karev, take a look at the watch and tell us how long our friend has been awake."

Alex grabs Gianni's wrist and looks at the watch. "175 hours, which equals a little over a week."

Derek continues, "As of right now Gianni does not respond to any medication and I have tried several surgeries on him to see what part of the brain is causing it but we have come up with nothing. This span of time awake, however, is the longest it's been since I've known him."

"If I yell at any of you or call you names just know that I don't mean it, I have these crazy things going on in my head since I've been up so long." Gianni sounds sincere, he wanted to show them that he isn't the crazy lunatic they saw just a few minutes prior. He looks to Derek, "So did Allison have the baby yet?"

"Wait, you know Allison?" George asks.

"Heck yes, only since kindergarten. We were in every class together from elementary school through high school. She is my very best friend."

Derek answers Gianni's question, "She had the baby a few days ago. I'm sure she'd be happy to know that you're here."

"Don't tell her I am here just yet, I hate when she sees me like this." Then he yells as he turns around to face Izzie. Don't let them take me, I don't deserve to go to heaven." Izzie looks to Derek for help, she is terrified and has never encountered something like that before, she's not sure she would ever want to again.

"Gianni, look at me," Derek says as he gets right in his face. Gianni looks into Derek's eyes, he starts to cry. "We are going to do an MRI. I need you to focus and hold still alright?" Gianni nods his head yes. They wheel Gianni into the room with the MRI in it and get him all set up. They all go into the tech room to wait. Derek sits down on the chair in front of the monitors. He leans back in the chair and looks up at his very attentive yet very worried interns. "I am going to bet that his scan turns up totally clean, it always does. I want you all to remember that his man is not insane, he is not mentally challenged, he is a very talented human being who is suffering. There is no telling when his hallucinations are going to kick in so we all need to be on our toes."

An image comes up on the screen. It's the picture of Gianni's brain looking totally normal. They all just stare at it in awe.

"So what do we do now, Dr. Shepherd?" Alex asks, intrigued by the enigma that is Gianni's brain.

"We go in."

Meanwhile Mark in Allison's room to help her leave the hospital. She is getting her things all packed up and ready to go, Mark is holding Josh in his arms. "I don't have any scheduled surgeries today so if you need me to help you find a place we could go looking today."

"Yeah I think I'd like that, I hate to stay in a hotel room too much longer."

"See, I can do this whole friend thing," Mark says sounding very proud of himself.

"Well you also better be able to do this whole father thing."

"Yeah…I am going to have to work on that," he teases, they smile at each other. Allison takes her bags and they both walk out of the room.

A nurse comes over to them, "Oh you need to leave in a wheelchair."

"She's with me, toots, no wheelchair needed," Mark says. The nurse scoffs and walks away. Allison just hits Mark in the arm for being so rude to her, and they continue down the hall.

Addison is in an exam room with Bailey still passed out in a bed. Addison is checking her vitals as Bailey starts to open her eyes. "Miranda, you gave me quite a scare. You really should have gotten yourself checked out."

"What happened, Addison?" Bailey asks, still groggy.

"You have pneumonia."

"No one knows I am in here, right?"

Richard walks into the room with concern on his face. Bailey puts her hand over her face. "Now Dr. Bailey, you know since you lied to me before you are going to be forced to bed rest for a week."

"Yes sir," Bailey mumbles, "Wait, where are my interns if I am in here?"

"They are all with Dr. Shepherd. Don't worry, I will be handling them while you are resting up," Richard goes to walk out of the door.

"Good luck," bailey mutters. Richard quickly turns around and Bailey just smiles at him. He turns back around the leaves the room.

"I am going to go as well and let you get your rest, "Addison leaves the room. Derek and the interns are in Gianni's room where he puts the films up on the light box.

"Nothing, just like I thought," Gianni says, disappointed. By this time he had gotten used to what his brain looked like when nothing was abnormal with it. "So I assume you're still going to want to cut me open, huh?"

"It's all I can do, man. We have to try."

Gianni puts his head back on the pillow and looks up at the ceiling. The lights hurt his eyes since they haven't been closed in 7 days. He quickly looks back down and rubs his eyes with his hands. "I don't know how much more of this I can handle, Derek."

"Don't quit just yet, I am going to do everything in my power to make life better for you." Derek then turns to the interns. "Now for the tough decision, not all of you can scrub in on this."

"Sure we could, Dr. Shepherd," Cristina says, there was no way she was missing out on this surgery.

"Dr. Bailey would have my ass if I took all of you off the floor any longer."

Addison says as she walks into the room, "Dr. Bailey has been sentenced to bed rest for a whole week, she won't even know. I heard there was a crazy hallucinating man in the hospital and figured I'd see if the rumors were true."

Gianni smiles, "Hey Addy, good to see you again. Derek wants to take a look at my brain again."

"He just likes to see what it's like to have one," Addison teases.

"Ouch, that hurt," Derek says sarcastically.

"How long has it been this time?" Addison asks.

"A week," Derek answers.

"It's getting worse, I see. Do you want me to tell Allison you're here? Her and Mark are getting ready to leave but I can stop her if you'd like."

"Ah, so the baby is Mark's. I am sure you're happy about they, eh Derek?"

"Yes, very."

"As I told Derek, I don't want her to know I am here just yet. I know how terrible I look and I know how she gets when I start to look like this."

"I am going to schedule your surgery for tomorrow. I want to see if you are able to rest tonight. I will have which ever intern is on call stop by every hour to check up on you."

Meredith steps forward and says, "That would be me tonight, Dr. Shepherd."

"Very well then." Derek leans in real close and whispers to her, "Be careful with him ok? If you think you can't handle it call someone to help you. He can get violent depending on his hallucinations."

"Alright, enough of this lovey dovey stuff, let's get back to the pit and get ourselves a surgery for today," Cristina chimes in.

The interns are in the pit. They're all standing in a group looking lost. Cristina is eyeing every patient that comes in waiting for the perfect case.

"It's weird without Bailey here," George says.

"We should go visit her," Izzie suggests.

"Yeah right, Iz, she'd ring our necks," Meredith says.

"I can't believe Sloan is taking Allison home today, that should be me," George whines.

"You have work to do, George, you couldn't have."

"He's going to help her look for a condo." The thought of him spending alone time with Allison is enough to send him through the roof. He doesn't trust Mark with her, especially because he knows how Mark feels about her.

"He sure is different when she is around," Izzie says.

"Yeah, when she's around I actually get to see a scalpel," Alex jokes even though there is truth in what he says.

They all laugh. Cristina comes over to them, "You know guys just because Bailey isn't here doesn't mean you get to stand around and have girl talk."

"I shall name you Nazi Jr," Alex teases.

"I shall name you Sloan's bitch," Cristina snips right back, not even missing a beat.

They all yell, "OHHHHHHHHHH." Then they all laugh.

Alex is starting to get embarrassed, "That was below the belt, Yang."

"At least someone is." Cristina walks away and Meredith and George snicker.

The chief walks into the pit and over to the group of interns, "Listen up people, Dr. Bailey is on bed rest for a week with pneumonia. I will be taking over for her as much as I can until she gets better. We all know what happened last time she was out. We have a group of firefighters coming in so I need everyone to be on their toes."

Allison and Mark are in the parking lot trying to figure out how to put the car seat in. Allison is holding Josh as Mark tries again to get it snuggly situated onto the seat. He stands back and it falls down.

"I am going to call Addison, she can help us," Allison says as she picks up her cell phone.

Mark grabs her hand to stop her from calling, "Oh no you won't, I will never live this down if she finds out."

"This is no time for you to be stubborn, Mark, I want to get out of here."

"I can figure it out, I am a doctor."

Allison sits in the passenger's seat with Josh on her lap. She sends a text message to Addison. Moments later Addison walks over to the car and starts laughing. Mark looks over at Allison, "I told you not to call her, Ally."

"You never said anything about not text messaging her." Allison laughs at her own cleverness.

"I never thought I would see the day Mark Sloan would need help with anything let alone putting a car seat together," Addison says. Mark hands Addison the seat and she puts it together and gets it fastened securely in no time. She smirks at him and walks back inside. Allison just giggles and gets out of the car to put Josh in the seat. They both get into the car and drive off.

Derek is sitting in his office with Gianni's films up on a light box just staring at them. Addison walks into the room and stand beside him. Finally Addison breaks the silence, "The human brain is a mystery."

"I thought that would've been my line."

"What are you going to do?" she asks.

"I am not sure right now. I have tried so many things. I am beginning to believe there is nothing I can do for him." It took a lot for Derek to say that. Derek Shepherd never gives up. Derek Shepherd always finds a way.

"No one deserves to go through life like this, especially someone like him."

"Yeah, too bad it's not us who makes those kinds of decisions around here."

There is another moment of silence. Addison is once again the one to break it, "You know, Derek, if you need to talk to me about that person we were talking about the other day you could come to me. I know you probably feel like you have no one to go to about it but I am willing to listen if you're willing to talk."

"I don't think I am ready for that just yet." He couldn't talk about it with Addison either, she wouldn't understand. She wouldn't like what he had to say.

"Ok." Addison turns around to leave the room.

"Addison, thank you. I will reach out when it's time." Addison nods her head and continues walking out of the room. She slams her fist into the wall and walks away.


	13. Chapter 13

Everyone is in the pit where they are beginning to wheel the firefighters in. Richard is giving out orders on who is to go where and each intern goes to their assigned guy. "Someone page Dr. Sloan, I understand he is out of the hospital but we need him back here ASAP. We are getting the family whose house it was in a few minutes."

"I need Dr. Shepherd, this guy got hit on the head with some falling debris and he isn't responding," Alex says.

"My guy is crashing. Beginning CPR." Cristina starts CPR on per patient.

Izzie's guy is sitting up grabbing his shoulder. "I think I dislocated my shoulder…and my leg is definitely broken."

"I've already paged the resident in charge of ortho, she should be here momentarily," Izzie reassures.

Callie chimes in, "And here I am. Let's get him into x-ray, Dr. Stevens."

"My guy is coding!" Cristina yells as she hits the code button. Everyone's attention goes over to Cristina and the man on her bed. Sadness goes across the faces of all the firefighters. The code team shows up and gets the paddles ready right away.

"Stop, I have to go be with him," Izzie's patient frantically says.

"Mr. Rodriguez, we need to get you into x-ray so we can start surgery," Callie explains.

"No you don't understand. That is my brother and I have to be with him." Izzie and Callie look at each other. Callie nods to Izzie. Izzie wheels the bed as close as they can get to the bed where Cristina is trying to save him. "Come on Robby, don't give up."

Cristina's patient flat lines. They try the paddles again. Nothing. She tries to do compressions. Nothing. She looks over at the brother. He nods his head as to give her permission to let him go. She stops. "Time of death 1646."

The firefighters all surround the bed of their fallen brother. Mr. Rodriguez puts his hand on his brother's hand and cries. They all pat him on the shoulder as they stand back and give the two brothers a moment before one is wheeled to the morgue and the other gets ready for his surgery. Benny (the brother) looks up at Callie and Izzie, "I am ready now. Someone please call my parents."

Addison walks into Gianni's room. Gianni has a blank stare on his face. His eyes are all sunken in. He takes long blinks. When he sees Addison he smiles. "I have gotten better at controlling the hallucinations. Does that mean I am crazy or something?"

"No, you're not crazy."

"So what's up? You have something on your mind. I can tell. Ally gets that same look."

"Did Ally tell you the whole situation that happened?" Addison asks as she sits on the end of the bed.

Gianni nods, "Yes she did."

"He told her he loved her. He told Meredith he loved her. He never once told me the whole time I was here."

"I am sorry to say this but people grow apart sometimes, Addy. Anyway, he didn't mean it when he said it to Ally." Addison looks at him with pain in her eyes. "He did?

"He did."

"I am so sorry. Well she doesn't feel the same, I know that much."

"Mark still loves her."

"Well she is loveable," Gianni jokes, "I know this is no time to joke. I think Mark still loves you too, just give him time. This George guy that Ally keeps telling me about seems wonderful. Mark will realize what he has right there in front of his face. You will be fine, you deserve happiness and you will get it."

"Sometimes we all don't get what we deserve." Addison gets up and leaves the room.

Derek is in the OR with Alex by his side. "I can stop the bleeding but it looks like he is still going to have some brain damage. He definitely won't be the same anymore."

"It's so sad. These guys give their lives to protect us and they can't even get thrown a bone once in a while. None of these men deserve to have anything bad happen to them."

"All we can do is our best to fix it. We don't get to make the call of who deserves what. Sometimes good people get hurt. It's life."

Meredith is standing in the elevator. The doors open and Derek walks in. They smile at each other. Derek stands next to Meredith. "I'd like to take you out for dinner tomorrow night, Dr. Grey."

"I think I would like that very much, Dr. Shepherd."

"It's too bad you're on call tonight, I was going to let you give me a massage."

Meredith giggles, "Oh really, yeah that is too bad. You can handle it, you're a big boy."

Derek leans in close as to kiss her but he stops right before his lips touch hers, "I don't think I can."

Meredith bites her bottom lip and smiles. Derek pulls his head back just as the elevator doors open. Meredith gets walks out, she turns around as she's walking away and Derek waves to her as the doors are closing. She just smiles as she walks away. She sees Cristina and Izzie and walks over to them. They're already in their regular clothes.

"It sucks that you're on call tonight, I want to go drink," Cristina says.

Izzie adds, "Not to mention the fact you get to spend the night with McSleepy."

Cristina quickly turns to Izzie, "Oh Izzie, you seriously did not just call him McSleepy."

"He's hot. He needs a Mc-Name."

"How about McCrazy? The guy saw rock monsters in the pit. I don't care what Shepherd says, the man is nuts."

"Yeah just keep making me feel more comfortable about spending the night with this guy, you're doing a great job," Meredith says sarcastically, "It's bad enough he knows Allison, this girl just won't go away"

"Well have fun with McCrazy tonight, Mer, I'm going to go get my drink on," Cristina brags.

"I'm calling you in the middle of the night if something goes wrong."

"Yeah smart, Mer, wake up a sleeping attending, real smart. Bye." Cristina and Izzie walk away and out the front doors of the hospital. George and Alex come running up moments later.

George is practically out of breath from running, "Did they come this way already?"

"Yeah they left already."

"Thanks Mer, "George walks off but Alex stays behind.

"Are you going to be ok, tonight? You know with that insomnia guy?" Alex asks concerned.

"Derek would never put me in harms way, I think I will be just fine. Thanks for your concern, Alex."

"Just don't tell anyone ok?" He smiles then runs to catch up with George.

Meredith turns around to walk back into the hospital. She goes into Gianni's room where he is sitting up in bed staring at the television even though it is turned off. He looks at Meredith when she walks into the room. He waves but doesn't say anything. Meredith sits down in a chair at the foot of the bed. "No luck yet, huh?"

"None."

"Don't give up hope."

"Hey listen, if anything happens to me don't let Derek blame himself."

"Nothing is going to happen."

"Just be there for him, ok?"

Meredith sits up straight. She's starting to worry about where this conversation has gone, "What are you talking about?"

"I need to try to sleep." Gianni closes his eyes until Meredith walks out of the room. As soon as she's out of sight he opens his eyes back up.


	14. Chapter 14

MVO:

Sleep, we can't live without it. It's what we count on at the end of the day to refresh us and prepare us for the next one. Sometimes we even take naps to give us that extra boost if needed. Sometimes our thoughts keep us awake at night. We toss and turn never to find a comfortable position. Sometimes it's a bad dream. Some people can't fall asleep no matter how hard they try. It starts to weigh on them until they can't take it anymore and just snap.

Meredith walks into Gianni's room, "Gianni, I am here for my last check up on you and then I am getting some sleep before my day starts again."

"I hear things. In my head there are voices. They're telling me that it's not going to stop. I see things. Terrible things. I stared at my watch for 3 hours last night watching the numbers tick tock tick tock. Thank you for putting up with me last night. I know I can get a little cranky when I don't get sleep for a week."

Meredith looks at him with sympathy in her eyes, wishing there was something she could do. "Derek is going to be here soon." She puts her hand on his for comfort.

_[Flashback/dream 1_

_It's raining and a cab pulls up to a trailer in the woods. Allison gets out of the cab and runs towards the trailer door. Derek opens the door and lets her in. Derek takes her coat from her._

"_Could you be any more hidden, Derek?" she asks as she tries to brush some of the rain off of herself._

"_That's the idea."_

"_I came here to apologize to Addison. I shouldn't even be the one but someone should. Where is she?"_

"_At the hospital still, I believe she will be there all night."_

"_Oh, I'll come back tomorrow then." She goes to leave, he grabs her arm. She turns back around and her eyes meet his._

"_I need you," he says._

"_Derek I can't…" Before she can say anything else Derek runs his fingers through her hair then rests his hand on her cheek. "This isn't right." Derek leans in to kiss her, she resists at first but then puts her hand on the back of his head and they start to kiss more passionately._

_[Flashback/dream 2_

_Allison is walking through the halls of a hotel. She is looking at each room number to find hers. She is wiping tears from her eyes and running her fingers through her hair to make it seem not too messy. She finally sees her room so she gets her room key out of her rain soaked purse. She's putting her key into the slot when she hears the door of the room next to her open. She looks up to see who it is. Mark is wearing just sweatpants and holding his ice bucket. He sees her right away and smiles._

"_I can't believe this is happening," she says._

"_It's good to see you too, dear."_

"_Don't give me that. I am not here for you. How did I get stuck with the room next to yours anyway? It must be some sick joke."_

"_It looks like you have been crying, is everything ok?"_

"_Couldn't be better," she says sarcastically._

"_Come inside with me, Ally."_

_Allison hesitates but agrees. They both walk into Mark's room. He lies down on the bed and she sits down on a chair. She never could resist Mark and his charm. She looks him up and down realizing he is wearing her favorite sweatpants. She lets out a smirk and shakes her head, "You're wearing my sweatpants. You must have known I was coming."_

"_I wear them every night hoping you'd be coming."_

_Allison smiles but then quickly gets a straight face, "You left me, remember?"_

_Mark walks over to her and picks her up. He lays her down on the bed and starts to kiss her. She feels up and down his body. He starts to take her shirt off, then her skirt, "I've missed you."_

_She can't resist him anymore, "I've missed you inside me."_

_[Flashback/dream 1_

_Derek and Allison are in the middle of sex. She is on top of him thrusting into him. She leans down to kiss him, she slows down a little bit to tease him. He looks up at her with his crystal blue eyes into her emerald green eyes. He smiles as he takes both of his hands and places them on her butt and pulls her into him. He goes deep inside as she moans with pleasure, so does he. He pulls her faster and harder. They climax together._

"_Oh god, I love you," he says._

_Allison smiles, "I love you too, Derek."_

_He panics, "You what?...wait…no no no, I didn't mean it. I don't love you. I don't know why I said it." Allison looks at him with fury in her eyes. She jumps off the bed and she starts to quickly put her clothes back on. She starts to cry. Derek runs his fingers through his hair. "Allison, wait, I'm sorry. It's just that I don't."_

_Allison is so angry and tears are running down her face, "I hope to never ever see you again in my life, Derek Shepherd." She grabs her purse and walks out of the trailer slamming the door behind her._

[In real time

Derek wakes up and opens his eyes wide with the sound of the door slamming from his dream. He looks to the empty spot in the bed next to him where Meredith should be, but she's not, she's at the hospital. He puts his head back on the pillow and looks up at the ceiling.

_[Flashback/dream 2_

_Mark and Allison are already done with their sex. They are lying in bed. She has her panties and bra back on and he has his sweatpants back on though they are under the blankets._

"_So does this mean you're going to come back to New York with me?" Allison asks, hopeful._

"_I am staying here."_

"_I hate you." Like she did earlier in the night she gets out of the bed and puts her clothes on. She grabs her things and goes to walk towards the door. She turns around to face him as she is in the doorway. She waits for him to say anything, anything at all. He doesn't even look at her and he says nothing. "I hope she breaks your heart." She turns to walk out the door and slams the door behind her._

[In real time

Allison wakes up to the sound of the slamming door in her dream just as Derek did. However, there is a knock at her door that also is waking her up. She rubs her eyes, looks over at Josh to make sure he is still sleeping and he his, puts on a robe and walks to the door. She opens it to see a smiling Mark in her doorway. She just walks away into the room and he follows her. "I had a few long surgeries yesterday so I couldn't come back to help you condo shop."

"That's alright, I needed time to myself anyway." She pauses not sure she should tell him about her dream, "You were in my dream last night."

Mark smiles, "Was I naughty?" She just looks at him. "Was I good?" Still no reaction, "What?"

"You were an ass."

The interns are starting to file into the locker room. Meredith is lying down on the bench. George leans down to put his face right by Meredith's, "Mer, it's time to wake up," he whispers. Meredith slowly opens her eyes. "It's almost time for rounds."

Meredith moans as she sits up, "I did not get much sleep last night."

"Did McCrazy keep you up all night?" Cristina asks, "I hope it's not contagious."

"I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"I didn't sleep much either. Something feels empty. I need her," George says as he puts his bag into his locker.

"Alright, George, I'll sleep with you tonight. You don't need to be a baby about it. I'll make the bad dreams go away," Izzie jokes, they all laugh.

"Very funny."

"I have a bad feeling about today," Meredith says reluctantly, knowing full well what happened the last time she had a bad feeling. They all look at her seriously, they remember too. How could they forget? She almost died that day.

"Mer, you do realize what happened you said that last time, right?" Cristina says trying not to sound scared, she would never admit it to anyone but that day she was terrified she'd lose her best friend.

"It's just a feeling. I'm sure it's nothing. It's just that…"

Before she can continue her sentence Derek walks into the locker room, "We're skipping rounds today and heading to Gianni's surgery right away. I expect to see all of you in 5 minutes in pre-op." Derek walks out.

"Oooo, McBossy," Izzie says.

"You give him a little bit more authority and he gets all McStrict on us," Cristina adds.

"It sure is a McTurn On," Meredith continues.

"I'm going to be McSick," Alex says making a gagging sound. George laughs and they all walk out into the hallway.

"So Mer, what were you saying?" Izzie asks.

"Oh nothing, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Richard is facing the OR board as Burke walks over and stands next to him and folds his arms over his chest, "Why is the hospital so quiet today?"

"Dr. Bailey's interns are all in surgery with Dr. Shepherd."

"All of them?"

"Yes, Dr. Bailey has pneumonia and is on bed rest for a week so I am doing my best to take care of them while she's out. Dr. Shepherd has this case he wants to show them, he wants to teach them something." Richard then looks at Burke.

"I see. Good luck with that bunch, Chief Webber."

"Thank you, Dr. Burke. I think I can handle them though."

Burke laughs and walks away. Allison and Mark are sitting at a desk in an office facing a realtor. Mark is holding a sleeping Josh in his arms.

"I think this is the fastest transaction I've ever been apart of," the realtor says.

"That's how we do it in New York. I had my own realty business so I know how it is," Allison replies with a big smile on her face. No harm in trying to make contacts out on the west coast.

"Well it was a pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Montgomery." They shake hands.

"Thank you." Mark and Allison walk out.

"I can't believe you got a place so close to the hospital," Mark says.

"It's good to know the right people." They put Josh in the car seat and get in the car.

"So you never told me what happened last night."

"I dreamt about that night."

"That night?"

"Yeah, you know…"

It finally comes to Mark, "Oh right, that night."

"Yeah as I said…ass."

"Changing subjects, are you going to buy a car so I don't have to chauffeur you around everywhere?" he says with an attitude.

She is taken back by his sudden harsh tone, "I plan on walking to work since it's so close."

"That's fine but what about getting everywhere else?"

"I am having my car shipped here from New York. It should get here tomorrow so I won't have to see you anymore, just the way I like it." Mark can't help but smirk. Allison could always out attitude him any day of the week. Mark looks at her with the "McSteamy look". Allison smiles.

Derek and the interns are in pre-op with Gianni. Derek is explaining the procedure, "We're going to have him awake the whole time."

"What else is new?" Gianni says, defeated.

"Ok, people, let's get going. We're all set to head to the OR now." They're in the OR and have Gianni set up for his surgery. Derek is standing over him as all the interns gather on all sides so they could get a glimpse of what is going on. "Ok, Gianni, I am going in. You know the drill."

"All too well." Gianni winces as the sound of his skull being drilled through echoes throughout the OR. Derek looks up at a screen where the scan of Gianni's brain appears.

"Normally the area of the brain that causes insomnia and all the rest of his symptoms are right around here." He points to a part on the brain. "I am going to go in with a probe and see if I can get a reaction. I have to go very slowly so it will take a while, but when I have done it before with him he normally gets a day or two of sleep before the insomnia returns." The image on the screen shows a probe slowly entering the brain. "Gianni, I am in so please try to focus as much as you can."

"I am calm, I will be fine."

Derek continues with the probe. "How long does it take for him to fall asleep after the procedure is completed?" Meredith asks.

"There is no telling. Sometimes it's right away and sometimes it takes a few hours. The brain is a mysterious thing sometimes, it does what it wants."

"What happens with most insomnia cases?" Cristina asks.

Derek doesn't answer. Gianni speaks up, "Go ahead, Derek, answer the doctor's question."

"They fall asleep right away."

Richard is in Bailey's room with her, he is standing up leaning against the wall facing her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Do you want the truth or can I tell you how I want to feel?"

"Don't lie to me. I have seen your chart."

"I feel like I am dying."

Richard tries to lighten the mood with a joke, "Well I am happy to report that you aren't." He smiles, Bailey doesn't seem amused, the smile quickly erases from his face.

"Why are you in here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be taking care of my interns?"

"Dr. Shepherd has them in a surgery."

"Well I am glad they're on a field trip with McDreamy."

Confused, McDreamy?"

"Oh um it must be the drugs, I am delirious."

"Yes, of course, I should let you get your rest anyway." He walks out of the room.

Mark is walking quickly through the halls of the hospital. Addison comes out of a room and they almost knock into each other. "Oh sorry Addy, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"That's alright, neither was I. Hey listen, I was wondering if you wanted to go out for drinks later."

"I'd like that." He smiles. "You should talk with your sister."

"These things take time, Mark. How is she?"

"She signed the papers for her condo today. It's actually just down the road from here."

"That's good, her and Josh have somewhere to live. How are you holding up?" It pains her to know that he still loves her.

"I am getting there…with everything. As you said, things take time. Well, I have to go follow up with some patients, I will see you later." He walks away.

Addison walks into Richard's office where he is sitting at his desk looking at paperwork. He looks up when she walks in and puts his papers down on the table. Addison sits in the chair in front of his desk. "You wanted to see me?"

"I wanted to apologize if stepped over the bounds and asked Allison to stay here. I know things are touchy with that whole situation but I had to think of what's best for the hospital. She's smart, Addison, she knows hospitals and has the education needed for the job."

"I respect your decision. My nephew shouldn't live without his father anyway. I think things are beginning to go back to normal anyway."

"It's just that I see so much of you in her. She's just like you when you were her age. Do you remember when you were 23?"

"Yeah I do."

"I wouldn't want anyone else as my right hand than her. Plus she seems to be able to keep Mark in line."

"She's the only one," she says with a laugh. "Don't worry, Richard, everything is going to be ok. I am not mad and I think Derek is getting over it as well."

"That's good, I like when my doctors are happy. I won't keep you, I just wanted to formally address it with you."

"Thank you." Addison gets up and leaves the office.

Derek and the interns are still in the OR with Gianni. Derek is still slowly maneuvering the probe through the brain. His forehead is wet from sweating. He pauses every few seconds to look back up at the monitor from the brain. He takes a deep breath as he finally gets to the point in the brain. "Ok, I have it. I'm on the spot now. Gianni do you feel any different?"

"No I don't. Not even slightly," he says, sounding annoyed. He knows what's coming next, he knows it didn't work.

"I am going to close you up now. I don't want to be in there longer than I have to. I am still worried about your hallucinations."

"I want the interns to take turns closing me up."

"Gianni, I don't think…"

"Derek, they're in here to learn, let them learn."

Derek hesitates before saying, "Dr. O'Malley, you're first."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously." George and Derek change places and George starts to close Gianni up. After a few things Meredith follows, then Izzie, and Alex, and Cristina finishes it off.

"Great job, doctors, I couldn't have done better myself." He pauses. "Well maybe just a little." He laughs at his own joke. "You guys go get some lunch, I'll finish up in here." They all walk out of the OR to wash up.

The interns are all sitting at a table with their food scattered all over the table.

"Even I have to admit that was a cool surgery," Cristina says.

"That was so cool of Shepherd to let us close up," George replies.

"I hope it works," Meredith says.

"George, why is McSteamy staring at you?" Izzie asks. They all look over at Mark and then quickly away.

"Maybe he likes you, Georgie," Alex teases.

"He probably wants to beat me up," George says. He turns to Izzie. "You won't let him beat me up right?"

"He's not going to beat you up, George."

Mark gets up to throw his garbage out. He looks over at the table and starts to walk towards it. Then he turns away, then turns back over and starts walking towards them.

"Oh god, he's coming this way," George says as he starts fumbling with his sandwich and nervously drops it.

Mark awkwardly says, "Dr. O'Malley, Ally…Allison wanted me to let you know that she closed on a condo today."

"Oh! Ok! So you're not going to beat me up?"

"Ha! No, not this time."

George's mouth drops open and the piece of apple he had in his mouth falls to the table. Mark walks away and smirks.

"Don't listen to him, he didn't mean that," Izzie reassures.

"I am going to have to transfer hospitals."

"George, I didn't even transfer when Addison showed up and neither should you. He's just being Mark," Meredith says.

"He's scary."

Addison catches up with Derek walking down the halls of the hospital. He looks up from what he is reading to see who is standing next to him. He smiles to say hello. "Do you have time to talk about the thing?"

She just wont drop it, will she? Fine, I'll tell her. "Yeah, I just got out of Gianni's surgery."

"How is he?"

"I have a bad feeling about this, Addison."

"Hopefully it's just a feeling."

They walk into Derek's office. Derek closes the door and they sit down. "Addison, I am not lying when I tell you I do not love her."

"But you said you can't breathe when she's here so I thought…"

"When I said those words I meant them, I am not going to lie about that. I do not have those feelings for her anymore and not for a long time now." She will see right through me, I don't even believe the words coming out of mouth.

"What about Meredith?" Addison asks, now more confused than when they first started.

"That night Allison showed up I was in so much pain. I loved…love Meredith too but that night Ally was what I needed. That night only."

"Are you going to tell her?"

He hadn't thought about that. He runs his fingers through his hair, "I probably should, right?"

"I am not going to answer that because I know you, if things go wrong you will blame me. Do what you feel is right."

"Right. Why does it have to be this way?"

"What way?"

"So complicated."

Addison sighs, "That's life, Derek. Just be happy you have someone loving you back." She stands up and walks out of the room leaving Derek to contemplate what he is going to do.

Cristina is walking down the hallway on her wait to the pit. Burke sees her as she rounds a corner and he jogs to catch up with her. He looks around to see if anyone is watching. "Cristina, can I talk to you for a second?" He takes her arm and brings her into an on-call room. She smiles and starts taking her scrub shirt off. "No, that's not why we're in here."

She stops and puts her shirt back on, "Seriously? You don't just drag a girl into an on-call room for a chat." He just looks at her. "Oh, you did?"

"Did Shepherd have you all in a surgery to teach you?"

"Wait, you dragged me here to talk about McDreamy? What is the world coming to?"

"Cristina."

"He has this super rare insomnia case. The guy has been awake for over a week and he's starting to have hallucinations. Shepherd has been treating him since his New York days and nothing works on him. You can't even put the guy to sleep. He was awake during the whole surgery. He wanted to show us what you do in such severe insomnia cases. It was awesome. Oh, and he's Allison's best friend."

"Allison?"

"Yeah Addison's sister, remember?"

"Oh yes, the drama that I pride myself in not being apart of."

"He let all of us close up." She knows saying that would get under Burke's skin.

"He let you close up? This means I have to let you all in on some kind of surgery with me. I see what he's trying to do."

Cristina smiles, "That's more like it, Burke, competitive is so hot on you. So now can we?" She says as she motions towards the bed.

"I have to go. Thanks." He kisses Cristina on the forehead as he walks out the door.

Cristina yells, frustrated, "Seriously?"

Meredith grabs a chart from the nurse's station and heads to a patient's room. She walks into Gianni's room where he is sitting up in bed as he always is. She stands at the foot of his bed. "I was hoping you'd be sleeping by now."

"It's not going to work, Dr. Grey, it never does. Could you believe I think I am too tired to hallucinate? My brain has given up on the effort. So have I."

"You're not going to do what you're think you're going to do, are you?"

"Don't worry about me. Seriously, I mean it."

"Do you want me to tell Allison you're here?"

"She'll find out soon enough."

Meredith becomes more and more worried each time Gianni talks, "I will have who ever is on call tonight check up on you, ok?"

"Sounds good." Meredith walks out of the room.

Alex and Izzie are in the pit working on some sutures. Izzie looks over at Alex, "Hey, Alex, I was wondering if you want to have dinner some time."

"As friends?" he asks, could you really blame him.

"No, as people who are trying to start over." She smiles, he smiles back at her.

"I thought you'd never ask."

"I have given it a lot of thought and I am ready."

"I am glad."

"I think it's almost like date night at Joe's tonight, everyone has their own separate things going on."

"Sounds good to me."

At Joe's each couple is at their own separate table. Meredith and Derek, Addison and Mark, and Izzie and Alex. They're all smiling and laughing.

[Meredith's table

"I like this…a lot. I am finally beginning to feel like things are getting back to normal around here," Meredith says.

"Yeah. Normal is good, I like normal too." He smiles.

[Izzie's table

"This is nice, I missed this," Izzie said.

"Me too, how have you been?"

"I've just recently started to feel better about everything. I can smile again."

[Addison's table

"So you still love her?" Addison asks.

"I do but I also love you, I want to work on this."

"This has been so hard on me, Mark."

"I am here for you no matter what, even if you just need a shoulder to cry on. It will take time for me to get over Ally but I am working on it," he says sincerely.

"I can live with that."

[Izzie's table

"I just want to tell you something I realized the other day. I have felt this way from the moment I met you. You make me want to be a better man," Alex says. Izzie smiles and leans across the table to kiss him. They kiss, it's soft and sweet but yet said so much.

"Alex, you always have been a good man. You just need to realize it." Alex nods his head.

[Meredith's table

"Are you feeling any better about Allison being here?" Meredith asks.

"I am glad she is going to let Mark be in that baby's life, I know how important it is for a child to grow up with both parents in their life."

"This whole chapter is over, right? I mean, there is nothing left to worry about? Because I have a feeling there is something you have yet to tell me. I see it in your eyes."

She was right, there is something more to say, "There is. Meredith I…" George bursts into the bar with a piece of paper in his hand. He is panicked and scans the room until he sees Derek. He runs over to the table and hands Derek the paper. Derek has a look of horror and sadness on his face as he stands up and walks as calmly as he can over to Addison's table, Meredith follows.

Meredith starts to get worried. "What's going on?"

Derek hands the paper over to Addison, "I'm sorry."

Addison reads it, "Oh my god. Come on." She grabs her things and Addison and Derek rush out the door with Mark, Meredith, and George behind them

Alex and Izzie notice the commotion and start to get their things. They catch up with Meredith. "What's going on?" Meredith shrugs. "George, what is going on?"

"I can't…I have to tell Ally."

"George, what happened?"

"It's Gianni, he committed suicide."

Derek and Addison rush into Gianni's room. The rest of the group stay outside the door and watch. He is sitting up in the bed with his head slouched over on the side rail of the bed. He is white and his eyes are closed. He looks peaceful. Derek takes out his stethoscope and tries to hear a heartbeat, a breath of air, anything that maybe he still is clinging to life. Addison knows better and pulls Derek away. Addison says with tears in her eyes, "He's gone, Derek, and you know it."

Derek yells, "I tried to fix him! I could have tried something else. This is all my fault."

"You did everything you could to help him, Derek. You can't blame yourself."

Derek turns to George who is standing outside the door, "Why weren't you watching him, Dr. O'Malley?"

"Dr. Shepherd, I was instructed to come by the room every 2 hours and that's what I did. The last time I saw him he was fine, he was reading a book. He was asking about Allison."

"Oh my god, Allison, she doesn't even know he's here."

George is knocking on a door. The door opens and Allison is standing in the doorway with Josh in her arms. She smiles and opens the door wider to let him in. George tries to keep a straight face as he prepares to give the woman he loves some of the most terrible news of her life. He kisses her softly on the lips and they sit down on a couch. The couch is the only piece of furniture in the living room besides the baby's bassinet. George takes Josh from Allison's arms and lays him down in the bassinet. The expression on George's face goes from serious to sad as he turns around to sit next to her. George takes her hand and places it in his as he looks into Allison's eyes.

"I have something to tell you. I need you to just listen to what I have to say before you say anything." George takes the note out of his pocket, "Your friend Gianni was in town." Allison's eyes light up and she smiles. "He uh, he came to get help from Derek. He hadn't slept in over a week and he was in pretty bad shape. He was starting to have hallucinations among other things. Derek operated but it didn't change anything. Gianni, uh, he is no longer with us." Allison is shocked. "He took his own life, Ally, to end his suffering." George hands Allison the note, she starts crying without even looking at the note. George gets closer to her and held her in his arms. Allison cries while resting her head on George's shoulder.

Derek is lying in bed with Meredith with his eyes glassy from crying. She turns over to face him and wipes a tear away from his face with her thumb. Meredith gets closer to him and puts her arms around him.

Addison is knocking on a door, the door opens and Mark is standing there. Tears are coming from Addison's eyes as Mark takes her by the hand into his house. He hugs her as the door closes behind them.

Derek and Meredith are laying side by side both facing the ceiling. Derek has one arm behind his head while the other lies by his side. Meredith turns over on her side resting her head on her bent arm.

"This wasn't your fault." She says, then sighs. "It was mine." Derek turns over on his side to face her. She has his full attention. "I knew something was going to happen and I didn't tell anyone." Derek turns over to face away from her and doesn't say a word.

GIANNI VO:

I am sorry it had to end like this. Sleep is something that is taken for granted by most people. You don't realize how important it is until you no longer have it. That's like most things in life, actually. I can't go on anymore like this. I suffer more and more through each sleepless day and night. I feel like I am going crazy yet I am totally sane. I need to end my misery and I am sorry I have to hurt you all to achieve this. I am thankful for everyone who tried to help me and those who loved me. Please take care of Allison for me, she needs to be loved by someone who loves her as much as I do. Love each other as you want to be loved. I won't suffer when I go, I promise. I finally get to sleep, I am just sorry it has to be forever.


	15. Chapter 15

MVO:

They say trust and communication are the keys to any successful relationship. I read somewhere that "Being vulnerable doesn't have to be threatening. Just have the courage to be sincere, open and honest. This opens the door to deeper communication all around. It creates self-empowerment and the kind of connections with others we all want in life. Speaking from the heart frees us from the secrets that burden us. These secrets are what make us sick or fearful. Speaking truth helps you get clarity on your real heart directives." Why is it that sometimes when we finally speak the truth and communicate that it could be the worst thing we could ever do?

Meredith wakes up, looks over at the spot next to her in the bed where Derek normally is but he isn't there. She gets up and walks down to the kitchen. Izzie is in the kitchen making breakfast. Meredith grabs a cup of coffee and sits down at the table. "What's going on between you and McDreamy? He left the house in a huff this morning."

"He's mad at me. I didn't tell him something I should have and now a man is dead because of it."

"Ok, you lost me."

"Gianni kept dropping these hints like he was going to do something. I had a feeling that this was going to happen but then he kept on saying he was fine. I should have said something."

"Only he could know what he was thinking, this isn't your fault and I am not going to let you blame yourself. Here have some pancakes" Izzie hands Meredith a plate with pancakes on it.

The interns start shuffling into the locker room. Meredith is putting her stuff in her locker and Izzie is next to her putting her stuff away. "He can't stay mad at you forever."

"I don't know Izzie, one of his friends are dead. It's not like I forgot to make the bed or something, this is major."

Cristina says as she steps over the bench to get to her locker, "Who is mad at what now? I have to move in with you people, I miss all the fun stuff."

"Derek is mad at me."

"Is this about that feeling you were having and then decided that you were going to keep it inside your dark and twisty place?" Cristina asks.

"Yeah basically."

"Serves you right for not sharing."

"I am glad I have you here to cheer me up, Cristina."

"I know, I am so wonderful."

George walks into the locker room and doesn't say a word. They all look over at him, he has pain on his face. He quietly opens a locker door and puts his bag in. Nobody knows what to say or if they should say anything. George changes into his scrubs and walks over to where everyone else is standing. "She didn't sleep all night. She cried all night. There is nothing I can do."

"You just have to be there for her when she needs you," Izzie said.

"I can't believe Shepherd blames me for it."

"You won't have that problem anymore," Cristina says.

"CRISTINA!" Meredith shouts.

"I thought we were trying to make George feel better. You people better make up your minds, you know I am not so good at this supportive stuff."

"So, who do you think is babysitting us today?" Alex asks.

"Hopefully they'll forget that Bailey is out and we could just assign ourselves," Cristina says. They all look at Cristina with blank faces. "What? It's just a thought." They all walk out into the hallway.

Burke is walking by and sees them all standing there and talking. He stops to see what's going on. "Shouldn't you interns be learning? Where is Dr. Bailey?"

"Still serving her bed rest sentence in her room, sir," Izzie explains.

"Oh, Chief Webber is supposed to be taking over," Burke says.

"Well he isn't here, he must have gotten busy," Alex says.

"Uh well, I am on my way to a surgery. I can't take everyone like Dr. Shepherd did," Burke says. Cristina's eyes get really wide. He notices. She keeps looking at him. "Ok ok, let's go. You're all scrubbing in with me." T hey all cheer and follow Burke.

Addison walks into Mark's office where he is looking at his computer screen. When Addison walks in he looks up from it. Addison sits down in the chair in front of the desk. "Before we get down to business I just wanted to say thank you for being there for me last night."

"I told you I was trying."

"I came here for a consult on a newborn. He has a pretty bad cleft pallet, I was wondering if you could do something for him."

"Right now I am free, let's take a look at him."

Derek walks into Bailey's room where she is sleeping. He sits down in the chair next to her bed and watches her. Bailey slowly opens her eyes and is startled to see Derek there. "Dr. Shepherd, what are you doing in here and why are you watching me sleep?"

"I just came to think."

"Why in here?" He just looks up at her with pain in his eyes. "Ok, what's going on?"

"Well one of my best friends killed himself in this hospital. My ex-wife's sister who I slept with…"

"Ok stop right there, I don't want to hear any more. You people and your drama, how do you keep getting yourselves into these messes? I don't know."

"But I thought…"

"I changed my mind, I don't want to hear it. This is a sick person's hospital room, Dr. Shepherd."

Richard says as he's walking into the room, "How is my favorite resident today?"

"Still sick. Aren't you supposed to be looking after my interns?"

Richard panics, "Uh, yeah I am supposed to be but…"

"Don't tell me you forgot."

"Well I had a lot of stuff to do."

"Haven't you learned that you can't let these interns run around the hospital unattended?" Bailey says.

"They're in surgery with Dr. Burke," Derek says.

"All of them? Seriously?"

Mark and Addison walk into the nursery where the baby is calmly laying down in the baby bed. Addison points over to the bed where he is. Mark walks over and Addison follows. She gets out some x-rays that she already had done and puts them up on the light box. Mark rubs his hand on his chin as he looks at the films, then the baby, back at the films, then back at the baby. "I can fix him." Addison smiles. "Where are all the interns lately? I have some things that need to get done." Addison smacks him in the arm.

Derek and the Chief are still in Bailey's room.

"So while I am stuck in bed you're going to keep sending my interns on field trips, chief?" Bailey asks.

"It's not a bad idea actually. They're learning together from each of their attendings on a particular surgery. Good job Derek." Derek smiles. "They'll be learning from Dr. Sloan tomorrow."

Derek laughs, "Now that's funny."

Richard second guesses himself, "Hmm, ok Dr. Montgomery first, I'll have to have a talk with Mark." He starts to feel awkward, looks at watch. "Well look at that, I have a meeting to be in. Feel better Dr. Bailey." He leaves.

"You still want to tell me your problem, don't you?" Bailey asks, she can't stand the puppy dog eyes any longer.

"I pushed back a surgery just to be here."

"Ok McDreamy, you have 10 minutes starting now."

In surgery with Burke the interns are all gathered around the table. Burke is in the middle with George and Cristina on either side of him and everyone else is on the other side of the table from him with their eyes focused on the heart. Burke's eyes keep scanning back and forth.

Cristina whispers to Burke, "You're supposed to say something, Burke."

Burke whispers back, "I'm thinking."

"You know we can hear you right?" Alex says.

"We are going to do a triple bypass on this patient. We start out by taking a blood vessel from the chest or leg to bridge over the blockage in the artery. Today all of you will be helping me to take these vessels out and putting them in to prepare the heart. O'Malley, you will start."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Burke, but Dr. O'Malley started off in Dr. Shepherd's surgery," Cristina says, there is no way she will let him be first twice.

"Very well, Dr. Grey, would you come over here and start us off?"

Meredith's eyes go wide, she did not expect to be picked first, "Yes, Dr. Burke, I'd be honored." She takes George's place next to Burke.

"I have the patient already open and on bypass. I want you to get our first vessel." Meredith looks up at him to wait for her next instructions. "You're going to make an incision in the arm. We're going to start off by using the radial artery. Does anybody know why we use this particular vessel?" They all raise their hands. "Karev."

"The radial artery is one of two arteries that supply blood to the hand, taking one out normally does not effect the blood supply to the hand"

"Very good, Karev, you will be next." Alex smiles. Cristina puts her hand on Burkes back and rubs it to show him that she's proud and that he's doing a good job. "Very good incision Dr. Grey, let's get this vessel out." Richard is watching from the gallery.

In Bailey's room Derek is finished telling his problem. Bailey is sitting there stunned and lets out a single laugh. "Dr. Shepherd, I don't know how you manage to always get yourself into trouble but what I am about to tell you you probably won't want to hear. You need to tell her. It will probably hurt her for a while but as I recall the last time you withheld information from that girl she found out you were married from your wife. Don't let something like that happen again or I will hunt you down."

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that. I want to stop being mad at her but I just can't right now, it hurts too much."

"I don't know why you want to blame anyone for what happened, it is what he wanted. I don't agree with it, but he wanted to stop his pain and he did something about it. Some people you will not be able to fix, and you know this."

"I just hate when it's someone I care about."

"We all do."

"Well thank you, I should probably do some surgery now." Derek goes to walk out.

"Dr. Shepherd!" Bailey calls after him. Derek turns around. "Try to go easy on her."

"I will." Continues on his way out the door.

Mark and Addison are now in the room of the parents with the baby with the cleft pallet. "Mr. and Mrs. Bear, I believe I will be able to fix your son's face." The parents hug each other.

"Teddy, his name is Teddy," the mother says.

Mark's mouth goes wide. He turns to Addison. Addison mutters, "Don't even think about it."

"Teddy," Mark repeats, then smiles, "We normally have to wait until 9 months to a year of age to do this procedure but I am so good that I can do it today."

"Oh thank you, Dr. Sloan," the father says.

"We are going to do one surgery today and he will have to come back when he hits 9 months to complete the procedure. We are going to take some tissue from the roof of his mouth to cover some of the soft palate. When he comes back I will be able to finish correcting it as well as making the scar near impossible to see. He will have to be in the hospital for an extra week for recovery not to mention the recovery time he will need at home, but we will go over that after the surgery. I have Teddy scheduled for a 3 o'clock surgery, see you then."

Mark shakes their hands and he and Addison walk out of the room. Addison looks to Mark who looks like he is about to burst, "You can say it now."

"Seriously, who names their kid Teddy Bear?" he exclaims, and Addison laughs.

In surgery with Burke. Izzie is finishing up her part of the surgery. She looks up at Burke and smiles and steps away from the table. Cristina walks up to the table.

"Ok, Dr. Yang, I would like you to finish up."

"Everything?"

"Everything. I know you can do it."

"Ok here I go." Cristina bypasses the last artery while the rest of the group huddles around to watch.

Burke chimes in, "Aren't you going to talk them through it, Dr. Yang?"

"Oh yes, of course sorry, I am new to this," she jokes.

Mark is wandering the halls of the hospital. It looks like he is looking for something or someone. Derek sees him and goes up to him, "Looking for someone, Mark?"

"I have this Teddy Bear surgery and I could use an intern."

Derek looks at him confused, "Teddy Bear surgery? I don't think I've ever heard of it."

"It's the kid's name, Derek, first name Teddy last name Bear."

Derek laughs, "Why would someone do that?"

"I have no idea."

"The interns are all in surgery with Dr. Burke," Derek explains.

"Oh that's too bad, I need a coffee," Mark says smugly.

"And this is when I walk away." Derek walks away.


	16. Chapter 16

The interns are all shuffling out of the surgery talking amongst themselves how cool it was. Richard is waiting outside of the OR door for Burke. Burke is the last to leave the OR, he sees Richard and walks over to him, "Preston, I just want to tell you how well you conducted yourself in there."

"Thank you, chief. We have a good group of interns here."

"Yes we do. I am glad you're starting to open up more with them. Keep up the good work." Richard and Burke walk in opposite directions from each other.

Meredith is standing in the elevator with two cups of coffee, one in each hand. Mark gets on the elevator and stands next to Meredith. "Oh, Dr. Grey, I see you've gotten me my coffee."

"Not a chance, Dr. Sloan," she snaps.

"What, no McSteamy today?"

"I am not in the mood."

"I could put you in the mood."

"You are something else, you know that."

"I know, it's a gift."

"It's disgusting." The elevator doors open and Meredith walks out.

Derek is standing at the door waiting. She walks passed him not realizing he is standing there. He turns around and catches up with her. She sees him and smiles. She hands him the coffee. "I brought you a peace offering."

"Nothing says I am sorry for letting your friend kill himself like a good cup of coffee."

"That was totally uncalled for and you're seriously over-reacting and certainly blaming the wrong person for this."

"I'm sorry, you're right. I shouldn't be blaming anybody for what happened. I am just hurting right now."

"I am sorry I didn't tell you about it."

"Meredith, I need to tell you something."

"Uh oh, this doesn't sound like a good something. This sounds like an "I'm married here is my beautiful wife, I slept with my ex-wife's sister and she may be carrying my baby something.""

"It's not a good something but it's something that needs to be said because I love you and communication is important in any relationship."

"Oh god, just get it over with."

"When I told Allison I loved her I meant it." Meredith starts to walk away, he grabs her arm. He looks into her eyes which are starting to have tears in them. "I don't mean it anymore." Does she believe me? I don't even think I believe myself.

"How can I be so sure of that, Derek?"

"You have to trust me."

"It seems to keep getting harder and harder to do that. I need to be alone right now." He lets go of her arm and she walks away leaving him standing alone in the hallway with a coffee in his hand. He throws the coffee against the wall and walks away.

Cristina and George are in the courtyard eating. Meredith walks over to the table, slams her tray down, and sits. "What happened this time?" Cristina asks.

"He loved her. I can't believe he told me that he loved her."

"Well she was his wife, Mer."

"I am not talking about Addison, it's the other one"

"Wait, excuse me, he loved her?" George asks, almost spitting out his water.

"I know! Isn't that the most absurd thing you've ever heard?" Meredith exclaims.

"Why would he tell you?" Cristina asks, confused.

"I don't know, something about communication in the relationship."

Alex and Izzie walk over to the table laughing and smiling and sit down.

"I can't believe this is happening. Must he love everyone that I do?" George says.

"I missed something, who loves who?" Izzie asks.

"McDreamy loves Allison," Cristina replies.

Meredith corrects her, "Loved…he loved her. Passed tense."

"Then why are you so angry?" Cristina asks.

Meredith sighs, "I don't know what to be anymore."

"Try being happy." They all look at him in shock that he was the one to say that, "What?"

Mark is walking through the halls of the hospital. Addison is walking in the opposite direction towards him and she smiles at him. "Do you know if the interns are out of surgery with Dr. Burke? I need one of them for my cleft palette surgery."

"I believe I saw them enjoying lunch in the courtyard."

"Thanks."

Mark walks over to the table and puts his hand on Meredith's shoulder. Meredith smacks his hand and he pulls it back and rubs it. "Dr. Grey would you like to scrub in on a cleft palette surgery?"

Meredith is skeptical, "What's the catch?"

"No catch, you in or not?"

She still doesn't believe him, this is Mark after all. It's worth a shot to try. "I'm in."

"Let's go."

Meredith and Mark walk away together. They're in the surgery and Teddy is already under. "I think it's a cute name," Meredith says.

"Yeah maybe now when he's a day old. How fun do you think it's going to be for him at 80 years old?"

"Still cute." She pauses, "Hey um, Dr. Sloan, did you know that Derek told Allison that he loved her?"

Mark looks up from what he is doing and stops everything, "Excuse me? He said what?"

"Apparently that night he told her and I am supposed to be fine with it."

"That's just wonderful." He starts talking to himself, "I'm through being mad, I am not going to get mad."

"Let's just worry about this surgery and talk about this later, I am sorry I brought it up here."

"No, I am glad I know. Let's continue."

Allison is walking through the front doors of the hospital with Josh in his car seat. Addison is walking by and sees her walk in. She turns around and walks over to Allison, "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"I think I am in shock."

"Do you need to talk about it?"

"I am not ready, Addy."

"When you need to talk give me a call, ok?"

Feeling like she needs to change the subject, "I came to see Richard to start on my paperwork. I start working here in a month."

"Well I am going to get going. I mean it, don't keep your feelings bottled up inside. If not me, talk about it with somebody."

"Don't worry Addy, I'll be fine." They each walk away.

George is in the elevator, the doors open up and Derek walks in. Immediately Derek is uncomfortable. He knows George probably already knows about what he said to Allison. George looks straight ahead and Derek keeps looking over at him. George finally speaks up, "Why did you tell her?"

"I didn't want her to hear it from someone else. I think it's important that we communicate the good and the bad, it makes us stronger as a couple. I'd want her to tell me something like that no matter how much it hurts just so it's out on the table."

"Not Meredith, I get Meredith, why did you say it to Allison?" George asks, even more irritated than he was just a moment ago.

"It's complicated."

George pushes the stop button and turns to Derek, "I have all day, Dr. Shepherd, my resident is sick and the chief is too busy to realize that no one is in charge of us."

Derek sighs, "I said it because I meant it."

"And you feel nothing for her now?"

"No I do not. I love Meredith and only Meredith." If only that were true, then I wouldn't feel so horrible. Then I wouldn't be so confused.

"I hope so because honestly I love Allison and I would not be able to handle you taking another one of my girls away from me."

Not sounding too convincing Derek says, "You have nothing to worry about, Dr. O'Malley."

"Good, I am glad we had this talk." The doors open and George walks out. Derek is left standing in the elevator stunned, the doors start to close as he realizes they're on the floor he wants to be on and he dives through the doors.

Mark and Meredith are in the Bear's room to explain how the surgery went. "Mrs. Bear, Teddy went through with flying colors. We may not even have to do the second surgery. We will know in a few more days when he is more healed up."

"Thank you so much Dr. Sloan."

Mark sees Derek walking by outside of the door, "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Bear, I have something to take care of. Dr. Grey will take it from here." Mark leaves the room to catch up with Derek. "Derek, we need to talk."

"You know."

"I know."

"She told you."

"She did."

"So I guess you owe me a punch in the face or something," Derek jokes.

"I am not going to hit you. Just don't tell her ok. She's finally happy, don't ruin it. If you tell her and hurt her in any way then I will be back for that punch in the face, got it?"

"Don't worry, I won't." He pauses, "Did we just have a civil conversation?"

"I think we did."

"Now if only I could with her." He looks into the Bear's room where Meredith is.

"I am sure you will. Give her time. You blamed your friend's death on her the same day you tell her you loved another woman at the same time you loved her." It hurt to be put so bluntly, he knows he messed up.

"I am scum aren't I?"

"No, you're just Derek," Mark teases. They both laugh.

Allison is in Richard's office finishing up filling out the paperwork. The car seat is sitting on Richard's desk and Josh is sleeping. She signs her name at the bottom of the paper, smiles, and hands it back to Richard. "Thank you for talking me into staying, Richard, or should I start calling you chief now?"

"I'll always be Richard to you, just don't tell anyone. And you're welcome, I am glad you'll be staying too. I am sure Josh will thank you one day as well."

"He is the most important thing in my life even if he did come from Mark and one screwed up night," she jokes and laughs.

"You are so much like your sister."

"Thank you," she says, then starts to gather her things and picks up the car seat with sleeping Josh. "I'll come back and visit when Josh is awake. Bye Richard."

Allison leaves Richard's office and sees George from across the hospital. She smiles and walks over to him. His back is turned to her and he comes up behind him and puts her free arm around him. George turns around and gives her a hug and a soft kiss on the lips. "It's good to see you, what are you doing here?"

"I had to fill out some paperwork for the job."

"How are you holding up?"

"As best I can. I am just glad I have you."

"You will always have me. I have to go. I'll stop by your place when I get off."

"Sounds good."

Meredith is sitting on a gurney in the tunnel by herself. She's sitting with her knees up and her head resting on her knees. Derek comes over and sits down next to her. She rests her elbow on her knee and places her head in her hand and faces Derek. Nobody says anything at first.

"Are we going to get through this?" Derek asks.

"I want to, I really do Derek. I do trust you. I just can't handle being hurt anymore."

"I promise this is it. You will never cry again," he says as he brushes her hair out of her face with his hand.

"I believe you, I really do. But I need something from you right now."

"Anything."

"I need you to tell me that Gianni's death is not my fault. I keep doubting myself and I just can't do it anymore, Derek. So that is really all I need from you right now."

Derek looks at her with pain in his eyes because he knows that was so horrible of him to say to someone, especially the woman he loves more than anything in the world. "I should have never said that to you. It was wrong of me to say. Gianni deserved not to suffer anymore and he did what he felt was right, he was trying to reach out to you to protect me. His death was not your fault, it was not my fault, and it was not George's fault. It was just something that happened. Maybe it was meant to happen. And that was very hard for me to come to the realization of."

"I can deal with the fact that you once loved Allison, and I have no doubt that you that you no longer have those feelings for her. To tell a person that someone's death is their fault is harsh, but I do think that you didn't mean to hurt me and you were just hurting and I can live with that. We are going to get through this."

"I am glad."

"Me too."

Meredith, Izzie, George, Alex, and Cristina are at Joe's at the bar with their drinks in hand.

"So Derek and I are ok again. Turns out this communication stuff actually works," Meredith says.

"Yeah I actually opened up to Burke today and I think I am getting some action out of it," Cristina says as she proudly takes a big sip of her drink.

"Good for you two, I am happy everyone is happy," Izzie says.

The bell above the door rings and Allison walks in. She doesn't have the baby with her. She's wearing a skirt and a tube top. She walks over to the group and up to George. She puts her hand on his back as she stands next to him to let him know she's there. He turns around and sees her and gives her a hug, "Hey you look good, where is Josh?"

"Mark took him for the night. I was wondering if you wanted to come over. I have everything set up now."

He looks back at the group who all motion to go and then back at Allison, "Yeah of course I'll come." They leave.

"On that note I am going to head home as well." Meredith gathers her things up. "Good night Joe." They all leave.

MVO:

So maybe communication isn't as bad as we think. We just have to trust that when we open up that things will be ok in the end. It doesn't matter how long you know somebody. It could be years or days. The thing that makes you stronger as a couple are those words you share together.


	17. Chapter 17

MVO:

Quiet, as interns we don't get much time to ourselves and we hardly ever get quiet. We take for granted the quiet that we get before we are unleashed into the real world. When we finally do find some quiet, it's the most refreshing thing we could experience. No matter how much quiet we crave and no matter how many times we say it could never be too quiet once we get that quiet we start to want noise.

Meredith wakes up in the morning and looks to the space next to her. Derek isn't there but there is a note on his pillow. The note says "Early surgery, see you later." She puts the note back down and walks out into the hallway. There are no noises coming from the bathrooms, the bedrooms, or the kitchen. She opens the door to George's room, it's empty. She walks to Izzie's room and looks in, it's empty.

Meredith says to herself, "Finally alone." She takes a longer shower than usual. She takes time to actually enjoy it. A dressed Meredith walks out of her room and goes downstairs to the kitchen. Every few steps the floors would creak. She gets to the kitchen and starts to make some coffee. The coffee sounds so much louder than usual. She gets some cereal out and the bag ruffles sound so much louder. It sounds like each piece hits the bowl one by one. Each bite seems to crunch louder and louder. "It's too quiet."

Meredith is alone in the locker room putting her scrubs on. Cristina walks in and puts her things in the locker next to Meredith, "Oh good, you're here. It's so quiet, it's so eerie."

"I know, Burke actually left before I did this morning."

"So did Derek, and Izzie and George were not home."

"Wow, that is quiet," Cristina says as she looks around to realize they're the only ones in. "Where is everybody?"

"I feel like they're all playing some kind of sick joke on us."

"Well enjoy it while it lasts." They walk out into the hallway just as Izzie and Alex are walking in.

Meredith smiles at Cristina, "Two down, one to go."

George quickly follows and rushes into the locker room. Alex and Izzie walk out of the locker room and stand next to Meredith and Cristina. "It's quiet today," Izzie says.

"Tell me about it, I woke up to an empty house this morning." George walks out to join them. "Long night last night, George?"

George smiles, "Maybe."

Bailey walks over to them, "I am back, not 100, but back. There will be no more attending field trips for you interns anymore. Get ready for rounds, let's go." They all walk into a patient's room.

George steps forward to present, "This is Peter Fileding, age 3, came in last night with seizures but has since then started to lose the function of his left arm and goes deaf every once in a while. From looking at the labs and after examining him I believe he has Tay-Sachs disease." Everyone's heads drop, Bailey gives them all looks to tell them to act professional.

"How do we proceed, Dr. O'Malley?"

George, sullen, "There is no cure. We can only try surgery to at least stop the seizures but there is no telling how long it will last."

"There is nothing you can do?" the mother asks.

"As of right now there is no cure for this disease, Mrs. Fielding, I am sorry," George explains.

"Aren't you forgetting something Dr. O'Malley?" Bailey questions.

"Do I have to right now?"

"What's going on?" the father asks, now worried.

"Dr. O'Malley!" Bailey yells.

"The symptoms of this disease will increase rapidly which could include blindness, deafness, dementia, paralysis, delayed mental and social skills," he says then stops.

"Dr. O'Malley if you don't tell them right now you will be running labs for a month."

George says very bluntly, "He won't live passed the age of 5." Mr. and Mrs. Fielding start to cry on each others shoulders and hug their sleeping 3 year old son. "I am so sorry. I have paged Dr. Shepherd, he is the head of neurosurgery here, he will talk to you more about what he can do to make him more comfortable."

Derek walks into the room and takes the chart from George. Pain goes over his face as he knows now what he's dealing with. He looks up from the chart at the parents, "Mr. and Mrs. Fielding, I can stop the seizures and possibly even stop some of the paralysis. The only down side is that they more than likely will come back before he dies. I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to make him as comfortable as possible for the time he has left with us. I am sorry there is nothing I can do to save his life. We are going to get him into surgery right away. Dr. O'Malley please get him prepped."

"Yes, Dr. Shepherd."

The rest of the team walk out of the room. Their heads hanging low. Nobody is saying a word. Bailey stops and turns around to face them, "Listen, I know that was hard to watch. It's a sad thing. It is also apart of our job to give news like that every single day. You cannot walk through this hospital looking like that because people are already scared and when doctors are scared they are more scared. You need to be their hope, you need to be strong for them. If I see one more of you hang your head in front of a patient like that again not even to mention hanging it in these hallways I will make sure you don't scrub in to another surgery. Let's go." She turns back around and continues walking, the interns have their heads held up high as they follow her, nobody says a word.

Allison is at home sitting in her rocking chair staring at the empty baby bassinet. She jumps as there is a knock on her door. She gets up to open the door and Addison is standing there with Josh in her arms along with his diaper bag, car seat, and spit up towel, "Mark had an early surgery so he dropped Josh off with me."

"Come in, have some coffee." They walk inside and into the kitchen. Addison sits Josh up in the car seat and places the seat on the table. "It was so quiet here without him, I actually missed the crying. How is Mark doing with handling him? I can't imagine he's used to it yet."

"It is a site to see. He's getting there though. He loves Josh no matter how many times he pretends that he doesn't."

"How are the both of you doing?" Allison asks. She could tell since she arrived in Seattle that her sister isn't happy and she is about 95 sure it's because of her. Allison hates to see Addison so tortured, especially knowing it is all her fault.

"We're also getting there. He still misses you, I can tell."

"He loves you, Addy, he's just Mark," Allison jokes, hoping it would bring a smile to her sister's face.

Addison laughs, "He sure is. Has Derek stopped by here yet?"

Looks up from her mug, then puts it down, "No he hasn't. I am not sure I want him to either."

"He took Gianni's death pretty hard, I just figured he'd stop by to see how you are."

"He doesn't care about how I feel."

"It may not seem like it, but he does. I have to get going, thanks for the coffee." Addison gathers her things and leaves.

Derek and George are in surgery and they are looking up at the monitor at the brain which is already exposed.

"So there is really nothing we can do?" George asks.

"We can't save his life, no."

"It's just so unfair, he doesn't even get the chance to have a life."

"It happens, Dr. O'Malley, if we dwell on every single case like this we will go crazy. You know better."

"I am sorry, I guess I've just been around Josh so much that I've developed a soft spot."

Allison, Derek needs to know how she is doing. "How is Allison ever since the death?"

"She's getting there, still cries once in a while. You should really go over there and talk about it with her. It'll help both of you out."

"I don't think she wants me there," Derek says discouraged.

"Maybe it's time you two make up, you're going to be working together soon and you know how hard it is to work with someone that you're fighting with."

"Yeah maybe I'll stop by." Derek looks back up at the monitor. "Ok this is where the seizures are coming from…there that should do it for that. Now let's see what we can do about this paralysis."

Bailey and the interns are on their way to another patient's room. They're in the NICU. They all shuffle into the room with all the incubators. Addison rushes into the room after them. They all walk over to an incubator of a baby girl who is a little blue in color and hooked up to a ventilator.

"Sorry I'm late, where is Dr. Burke?" Addison says.

"We are waiting on him."

"While we are waiting why don't we present the case?"

"Dr. Grey, present the case."

Meredith steps forward to present the case, "Baby girl has been found to have tricuspid atresia, she has been put on a ventilator to help her breathing and we are giving her prostaglandin E1."

"And what do we use prostaglandin E1 for?" Bailey asks.

"To maintain circulation of blood through the body," Meredith answers confidently.

"Very good," Bailey reassures.

Burke walks in, "Sorry I am late."

Cristina mumbles to Meredith, "Seems to be the theme around here today?"

"What was that Dr. Yang? You want to run labs all day today? Very well," Bailey says.

"Damn it! Can I at least stick around for the rest of this presentation of the case?"

"No, labs now, move!" Cristina leaves the room. "Maybe I am feeling better."

Burke is reviewing the chart then looks up and says, "Where are the parents?"

"There aren't any parents. She was dropped off at the fire department," Addison explains.

"At least they had the sense to drop her off," Bailey adds.

"Dr. Grey, how do we proceed?" Burk asks.

"We will start off with Stage I of the Norwood Operation. We will insert a shunt to maintain blood flow to the lungs."

"Very good, let's get Baby Girl prepped for surgery."

Bailey's pager goes off, "911 in the pit, Karev and Stevens come with me." They rush out of the room.

Bailey gets called into surgery almost immediately when they get to the pit. Alex and Izzie start working on sutures.

"What?" Alex asks.

"What?" Izzie repeats.

"You have that look in your eye. What's on your mind?"

Izzie sighs, "Baby girl. She still has a long struggle ahead of her and who knows if she's going to get the right treatment that she needs."

"There is nothing we can do, Izzie. It's not our problem."

"What if I want to make it my problem?" Izzie asks.

Alex very harshly says, "Do you remember what happened the last time you made something your problem? You almost got us all kicked out of the program."

"This is different."

"Is it, Izzie? Don't get involved, it's not worth it." She just looks at him. "What do you plan on doing?" Izzie smiles that he at least wants to hear her plan, "This doesn't mean I am going to agree, but I am willing to listen." An ambulance shows up in the bay doors and they are interrupted. They get into their yellow smocks and rush out to meet the ambulance. "We'll talk about this later."

There is a blonde haired, green eyed girl sitting on a stretcher. She is tall and skinny with a perfect body. The EMT reads off the patient's information. "Lanna Rodgers, 22, breast implant ruptured."

Alex looks at Izzie as he says, "Mine."

"Take it." she snaps.

"Thank you." Alex turns to a nurse. "Page Dr. Sloan, I am heading to the OR." Alex wheels Lanna off. They get into the elevator. "So what were you doing when this happened?"

"Kickboxing."

"Seriously? You kick box?"

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe someone who looks like this will enjoy something like that but I've been doing it my whole life" Lanna explains.

"I think it's cool. Dr. Sloan should be meeting us when we get off the elevator." The doors open and Mark is standing there with his arms folded across his chest. "And there he is. Dr. Sloan, this is Lanna, her right breast implant ruptured."

"Very good, Dr. Karev, I can take it from here."

"But I thought I could scrub in."

"I don't need you on this procedure, it's pretty simple."

Alex turns to walk away when Lanna speaks up, "No, I want Dr. Karev in there with me." Alex stops and turns around.

"It's not necessary, Lanna," Mark says.

"Well I want him in there so he is going to be in there."

Mark takes a deep breath, he is in no mood for this today, "Very well, scrub into OR 2 Dr. Karev." Alex mouths the words "thank you" to Lanna as he walks off to scrub in.

"I can't seem to find the point to hit that will help with the paralysis. We may not be able to fix it," Derek says. They are still in Peter Fielding's surgery. "I can't do it, not without further damaging the brain. This is where we stop."

Burke and Meredith are about to get started with their surgery on Baby Girl. "Ok Dr. Grey I am now making the incision, you may want to get close because this heart is going to be pretty tiny." Meredith moves closer for a better look.

"What's going to happen to her after this, Dr. Burke?" Meredith asks.

"That's up to the adoption agency to decide."

"But she is going to need more surgeries."

"Yes she is." The heart monitors start going crazy. Burke quickly looks up at them. "We're losing her."

Addison rushes over to the table to try to save her. Meredith stands there in shock. "I can't get the heart rate back up."

Meredith screams, "We have to!"

"She's gone, Dr. Grey," Addison says.

"There is nothing more we can do. Time of death 1430."

Meredith goes to the pit and up to Izzie. "You're back early, what happened?" Izzie asks even though she knows the answer.

"We lost Baby Girl."

"Oh no." A tear rolls down Izzie's cheek.

"Maybe it's better this way. She wasn't going to have the life she deserves. You know, adoption centers and surgeries and everything."

"I was going to give her a good life."

Meredith looks at her confused, "Izzie, what are you talking about?"

"I was thinking of adopting her."

"Oh Izzie, I am sorry."

"I wanted to make a difference with this money. I thought I was finally going to get that chance."

"You'll think of something, this just wasn't meant to be."

Alex and Mark are in surgery. "So what did she decide to have done, Dr. Karev?"

"She wants to get an implant put back in."

"They just never learn."

"She's a model, she gets more work with them than without them."

"She needs to choose modeling or kickboxing or she is going to wind up back in here again."

"I didn't think you would care." This is a side of Mark Sloan Alex had never seen before.

"I don't, in fact I hope she keeps it up so we keep getting her in here for surgery." Mark tries to make up for his slip in character.

"That's not very convincing. That baby is making you soft isn't he?" Alex jokes.

"He sure is trying to." Mark smiles. "Ok looks like I've gotten it all out of her system. Dr. Karev, would you like to put the implant in?"

"Seriously?"

"Quickly before I change my mind, Karev." Alex rushes over to stand next to Mark. Mark hands him the implant. "She's all yours." Mark stands back to let Alex work. Alex takes the implant and gently places it in the breast. He makes sure everything is centered. He looks back at Mark for his approval. Mark nods yes. Alex proceeds to close it up. "Very good Dr. Karev, it looks perfect. She will be happy with her new breast."

"Thank you for the opportunity, Dr. Sloan."

"Don't think it's going to happen again."

"I wouldn't think of it," Alex says, smiling.

Cristina sneaks into the NICU and is looking at all the incubators. She starts to panic as she re-looks at each one thinking she may have overlooked one. What she is looking for is not there. Who she is looking for is not there. She turns around to leave and Burke is standing in the doorway. She jumps back startled, she is not expecting anyone to be there. "I lost my stethoscope when we were in here earlier. That's what I am looking for."

"You mean the one that's around your neck?" Burke asks.

"No, I am borrowing this one," she lies, she knows she's a bad liar. He can see right through me.

"I find that hard to believe. You're looking for Baby Girl, aren't you?"

"Maybe." Cristina sighs. "I just wanted to check on how she pulled through." She hates the fact that she developed a soft spot for this tiny baby.

"Cristina, she didn't make it."

In shock and denial, "Of course she did, she's a little fighter."

"She didn't, we lost her pretty early in the surgery."

She needs to get out of there, she can't handle it right now. "Ok. I have labs to run. I should get going." Cristina walks passed Burke to leave. Burke grabs her hand. She turns back around.

"Are you ok?" he asks.

"I am Cristina, of course I am." So not ok. She turns around and leaves the room.

In Peter Fielding's recovery room his hopeful yet worried parents are sitting by his bedside as he rests peacefully. Derek and George walk in, the parents stand up to shake their hands. "I was able to temporally stop the seizures; unfortunately there is no telling how long they will be gone for."

"Any second that he is not suffering is ok with us, Dr. Shepherd. We understand you are doing everything you can," Mrs. Fielding says.

"I do have some not so good news about the surgery. I am truly sorry to say that I am not able to stop his paralysis. Right now it's just in his right arm but it may spread."

"Oh god," Mrs. Fielding says as she falls into her husband's arms.

"I am so sorry."

In the tunnel Izzie is sitting on the gurney crying. Meredith walks in and sees her. She sits next to her and puts her arm around her to give her comfort. Izzie puts her head on Meredith's shoulder. Not too long after Cristina walks in with tears rolling down her cheeks. She sees Izzie and Meredith and turns around hoping not to be seen. Meredith spots her, "Cristina, are you ok?"

Cristina turns back around and walks towards them, "I thought she was going to pull through."

"So did I," Izzie says then rubs her eyes.

Cristina sits down on the other side of Izzie. "Why do I care so much? This is not like me." Tears start rolling down her cheeks again.

"We all thought we could save her in some way." A single tear runs down Meredith's cheek, she wipes it away.

They sit there in silence thinking to themselves. George walks in and sees them all with tears in their eyes. He walks over and gives them a look as to say "I know how you feel." He sits down next to Meredith who still has her arm around Izzie and puts his arm around her. He puts his head on Meredith' shoulder. "Life is cruel sometimes."

Addison walks into Derek's office. Derek is sitting at his desk with his head in his hands. He hears someone walk in so he looks up. He sees Addison and smiles. He motions for her to take a seat. Addison sits down in the chair in front of his desk. "It's quiet today."

"Yeah it is."

"It's not good."

"No it's not. I just had to tell a patient's parents that their only son won't live passed the age of 5."

"It's always tough."

"I haven't felt like myself lately."

"I think you and Allison should sit down and talk things out." She pauses. "About Gianni, not about that other thing. I think you need each other right now."

"I've been thinking about it." She has no idea how much he's been thinking about it. It just about consumes his every thought.

"I think you should. She needs someone who understands the situation to open up to. George is not going to be able to be there for her like you can."

"Why are you being so nice to us?" Derek begins to question Addison's motives. They hadn't been the best of friends lately, especially since Allison showed up.

"Because you both are my family no matter what happens. I hate to see you like this, Derek." She gets up to leave the room.

"Thank you, Addison."

Meredith is walking through the halls of the hospital and Derek is walking towards her. They stop to talk to each other. "I've missed you all day," she says.

"Me too," he shortly says.

Meredith notices something is off with Derek, "Are you ok?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Is there anything I can do?" She wants to help him, she can see the pain in his eyes.

"I need you to understand."

"Understand what?"

"Understand why I have to go see Allison tonight." He really didn't want to tell her. He wanted to just keep it inside and go there and lie, but he couldn't do that to Meredith. She doesn't deserve to be lied to, she will understand.

"Well, why do you?"

"I…we have been suffering about the suicide. Right now we need to be there for each other. I need you to trust me."

"I do…I do trust you. Do what you have to do, Derek. I'll be at home waiting for you."

Derek smiles and puts his hands on each of her arms. "Thank you so much for understanding." He kisses her on the forehead and continues walking.

Meredith goes to the pit where everybody is working. There aren't too many people needing medical attention. Meredith walks over to a patient who is in a bed next to where Cristina is suturing a teenage boy as his parents look on. Cristina looks to Meredith and says, "It is so quiet today."

"I know, I am almost happy about it right now."

"Are you nuts? This means no surgeries."

"Aren't you supposed to be running labs?"

"There are none left right now! It's scary."

"That is pretty odd." Meredith pauses, wondering if she should turn to her friend about Derek. "Derek is going to see Allison tonight."

"And you're ok with this?"

"I have no reason not to be."

"So you trust him again?" She turns to her patient, "Ok, you're all set, you're going to need to come back here in a week to get the stitches taken out."

"Thank you, Dr. Yang," the patient says, then walks away with his parents.

"I trust him again."

"I don't know how you do it."

"Life is better with him than without him."

"If you say so."

Meredith finishes her patient up and the patient leaves. Cristina and Meredith turn around to find another patient and all the beds are empty. They turn to look over at Izzie, George, and Alex who also just realized that there isn't anyone else. "I am going to hang out by the OR board to find a surgery. I haven't seen anyone cut open all day." Cristina leaves the pit.

Meredith walks over to the rest of the group, "Hey Iz, how are you holding up?"

"A little better. It's just a sad situation. I thought I could make a difference in someone's life."

"You have, Iz, and you will get the chance again," Alex says.

"Thanks Alex. How about you, George?"

"Yeah, I am good too. It's a little unnerving that it's been so quiet here today."

"Did you know that Derek is going to go over Allison's tonight?" Meredith just cannot help but bring it up again, George will be the only one to understand.

"So he listened to me? Good."

"You asked him to?" Meredith asks, shocked.

"They need each other, Mer. We don't understand their pain."

"And you trust her?"

"Of course I do. I even trust him. You have nothing to worry about."


	18. Chapter 18

Derek is on the phone with Allison, it took him all day to work up the courage to call her. He wasn't sure she would even want to talk to him, "Hey, it's Derek…You were?...She did, did she?...Yeah she spoke with me too, so did George actually…Do you mind if I stop by after work?...No he could stay, I don't mind…Ok, Allison, see you later…Bye." He hangs up the phone and runs his fingers through his hair.

They're all in the locker room getting changed into their regular clothes. They're all in there accept for Cristina. Cristina bursts in and sits down on the bench, "I just scrubbed in on the best surgery and you all missed it."

"Well good for you!" Izzie yells as she bursts out of the locker room.

"Izzie!" Alex calls, then runs after her.

Cristina is putting her regular clothes on "What's her problem?"

"She's not having a good day."

"Yeah well we all have problems," Cristina says unsympathetically, "See you tomorrow." She leaves.

Meredith looks to George and says, "It's just us."

"Let's go home."

Addison has her coat on and she's ready to go. She's walking down the hallway and turns into Mark's office. Mark is sitting back on his chair with his feet up on his desk. "Hard at work I see, Dr. Sloan," she teases.

"It was a quiet day, I am using this time to collect my thoughts."

"You have thoughts? Who knew?" she says, trying to lighten the mood.

"I am beginning to, yes."

"Well I am going to get going, good night."

"Good night Addison."

Addison walks out just as Richard walks in. As soon as Mark sees Richard he takes his feet of the desk and sits up straight. "Good evening Chief Webber."

"Dr. Sloan, I just wanted to stop by to thank you for the progress you have recently made with the interns."

"You're welcome. I can't say that I am trying, it's just happening."

"Fatherhood can do that to you."

"I am really trying to do the right thing for once."

"You still love her don't you?" Richard can see right through him.

"I do but I am working on it with Addison."

"I understand where you're at right now. It'll get better."

"I hope so."

Meredith and George are sitting on the couch in Meredith's living room. They're lounging together with a pizza pie on the coffee table. "Don't worry about them, Meredith, they just need to grieve."

"I am good, I really am."

"I am glad we are all finally getting along. I was worried about Allison and her past getting in the way."

"She's a nice girl. I am glad you're happy, you deserve it."

"Thank you." They lean their heads in to rest on each other's head as they both sit there with thoughts on their minds and taking the time to enjoy the quiet.

Derek is at Allison's door with a bag of food. He knocks and she opens it. She smiles and they both walk into the condo. "Perfect timing, I just put Josh down for the night."

"Oh, I was hoping to meet him tonight."

"Maybe another time, Derek."

"I brought you a cheese steak," Derek says as he holds up a brown paper bag and smiles.

Allison's eyes light up. "You remembered."

"I did."

Allison puts the bag on the table and sits down on the couch, Derek follows her and sits down next to her. "I am going to start." She looks up to search for the right words to say. "You are a good surgeon and an even better friend. I know you are blaming yourself but you can't do it to yourself and I will not let you."

"I am just so sorry."

They hug each other as Allison starts to cry. It pains Derek to see her like that. He wants to do so much for her to help her get through it. All he can do is be her friend. He wants to hold her, he wants to hug her, he wants to kiss her, he wants to make all of those tears disappear. He doesn't want to feel guilty for Gianni's death but how could he not. He lost his friend and her best friend. He is the reason she is crying. Derek is just happy he is also the reason she is starting to feel better.

MVO:

Sometimes at the end of the day it's the quiet that gets you through your worst times. You use that time to think. You use that time to learn. You use that time to grow as a person, as a friend, as a lover. I have come to see that sometimes it's the words you don't say that speaks volumes. Quiet can sometimes be the only thing that gets you through the pains or the joys of life. We just need to know when it's time to talk and time to listen to the silence.


	19. Chapter 19

Meredith walks down the hallway to George's room to wake him up. She opens up his door and sees an empty bed. She is confused because she knows she heard him come home the night before. She walks over to Izzie's room to see if she knows where George went. Meredith opens the door and to her horror Izzie, Alex, and George are in the bed (in that order). George is cuddled up to Alex.

Meredith screams, "Oh my god!" Izzie, George, and Alex all jump awake. Alex and George realize that they are next to each other and George falls out of the bed.

Alex yells, "Oh my god!"

George frantically turns to Alex, "Did we?"

"Dude, I don't know."

"What the hell happened?" Izzie asks.

"Izzie, did we do something together last night?" George asks as he rubs the back of his head.

"I don't remember anything from last night."

"What is going on in here?" Meredith asks.

"Dude, we better not have done anything."

"I need a shower." George runs out of the room.

Derek runs into the doorway next to Meredith. "I heard screaming, is everything ok?"

"I think I am going to be sick," Alex says.

"Hey Dr. Karev! I didn't know you were here," Derek says as he waves.

"Apparently Izzie, Alex, and George slept with each other last night. They can't remember what happened," Meredith explains. All Derek can do is laugh.

In the locker room Meredith and Izzie are getting their scrubs on. Every time they look at each other they giggle. Izzie looks over at Alex who is still horrified. He quickly puts his scrubs on and leaves the room. As he is walking out, George is walking in. George avoids eye contact with Alex and quickly moves out of the way. He walks into the room and puts his stuff in a locker. Meredith and Izzie look over at George and smile.

"Don't give me that look. It isn't funny," George snaps.

"It's a little funny," Izzie replies.

"How can you think that?" George asks, raising his voice.

"You and Alex cudd…" Izzie can't get any more out since George puts his hand over her mouth.

"Not a word of this around here, things travel and you know this!"

"How funny would that be if you guys had a threesome?"

George sarcastically says, "Oh yeah, hilarious."

"George nothing happened, don't worry."

"How do you know?"

"Believe me, if I had sex I would know about it."

George begins to get disgusted, "Ok I don't need to hear anymore." Meredith and Izzie laugh and walk out into the hallway.

Alex and Cristina are already standing there drinking their coffee in silence. "Izzie, do you seriously not remember anything from last night?"

"What happened last night?" Cristina asks.

"I really don't know what happened," Izzie replies.

"I am never sleeping over again," Alex adds.

"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Cristina growingly gets more frustrated that nobody is filling her in on what everyone is talking about.

"Never."

"I will find out sooner or later."

George walks out and joins them in the hallway. He stands next to Meredith. He and Alex look at the floor.

"Ok, what the hell happened?" Cristina asks again.

Bailey walks over to them, "Ok, time for rounds, let's get going."

"Saved by the Nazi, this isn't over. I am going to find out."

Allison is at her condo and Mark is there and holding Josh. Mark has his shirt off and is wearing those famous sweatpants. Mark hands Josh off to George and they walk into the bedroom where Derek is already lying down on the bed. Allison closes the door. "We have a surprise for you, Ally," Mark says with a smile on his face.

"I think I know what it is," innocently says.

"Come to bed, Ally," Derek says.

Allison has her head down on the desk in an empty office. She is sleeping. She is dreaming. She has a smile on her face. Derek knocks on the door again, this time harder. He is standing in her doorway looking down at her. "Allison! Wake up!" he yells.

Allison lifts her head up quickly. She blushes and quickly wipes the smile off her face. Wow that would have been an amazing dream, she thinks, damn him for waking me up. "Hey Derek! How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know you must have been having a really good dream."

"I uh no, it wasn't, in fact I was having a nightmare…terrible terrible." She nervously laughs.

"I just stopped by to say welcome to the hospital."

"Thanks, you're not going to tell Richard I was sleeping, are you?"

"It'll be our secret."

"Aw no wonder they call you McDreamy," she teases. Derek laughs and leaves the room. Allison pulls a mirror out of her purse to check to make sure her hair and makeup look ok.

Mark is walking through the halls of the hospital with Josh in his arms. Josh is crying and Mark is just walking straight ahead not trying to calm him down anymore. He's tried everything and just can't get him to stop. Callie is walking towards him and he looks to her. She stops, "Having baby problems, Dr. Sloan?"

"He won't stop," Mark says in a panic.

"Maybe be a little more affectionate towards him," she says then smirks.

"Can you try?"

"I really shouldn't but I can't stand to see a baby cry."

Mark hands Mark to her and says, "Thank you." Then Mark quickly walks away.

Callie calls after him, furious, "Hey where are you going?" She stomps her foot. She is mad at herself for letting Mark trick her like that. "UGH!" Josh stops crying and she looks down at him. "He didn't even try, did he?"

Derek is sitting in a CT tech room and Cristina walks in. "I am with you today, Dr. Shepherd."

"Good, I am just getting the scans ready for a tumor removal I have scheduled for today."

"Dr. Shepherd, you know what happened this morning, don't you?" Cristina can't get it off of her mind.

"I do."

"But you're not going to tell me."

"No, it's not my place but I can tell you about our surgery. She is 40 years old with a non-cancerous tumor. It should be a pretty basic removal." The scans come up on the screen. "Ok, you can go prep the patient, she will be in room 2335."

George and Addison are walking down the hallway on the way to a patient's room. Callie still with Josh in her arms sees them and walks faster to catch up. "Dr. Montgomery!" She calls out.

Addison and George turn around. George and Callie avoid making eye contact. George stands there nervously. "Dr. Torres, is that my nephew?"

"Yes it is. Dr. Sloan couldn't get him to stop crying so I offered to help and then he ran away."

Addison laughs, "Sounds like classic Mark. I can take him if you want."

"That would be great. I have work I need to get done." Callie hands Josh to Addison and walks away.

"Well that was awkward," Addison says.

"Not to mention unexpected. Now what do we do?"

"You are going to prep the patient for surgery and I will take Josh to my sister. I'll meet you in pre-op." George walks away and Addison heads to the elevator.

Alex and Meredith are on their way to the pit. "I would know if something happened, right?"

"I really don't think you have anything to worry about."

"Dude, I woke up next to George."

"It was pretty funny."

"Shut up."

An ambulance is pulling up. They rush to get their smocks on. The EMT reads off the patient's information, "Jason Jackson, 40, complaining of chest pains. He lost consciousness on the way here. We still have a pulse and a very low heart beat."

"I got this one." [Meredith nods and walks away. The patient crashes and Alex starts CPR. "Ok we got him back, I don't know for how long we have him. Someone page Dr. Burke."

Meredith runs over to Alex, "I have his wife, she's had a heart attack too."

In the OR with Derek and Cristina Derek is working on removing the tumor. Cristina isn't even paying attention to the brain, her eyes stay on Derek the whole time. Derek stops what he is doing and looks up at her with his eyes. "Dr. Yang…"

"Dr. Shepherd, I just need to know what happened."

"You are unbelievable."

"Thank you."

Derek sighs, defeated, "I will tell you after the surgery."

"Deal."

Derek continues to extract the tumor. Derek gets the whole thing out and puts it in the tray. He checks the patient's vitals and everything looks to be normal. Derek and Cristina are alone in the scrub room. They are washing up and scrubbing out. Derek looks over at Cristina, "Izzie, Alex, and George woke up together this morning."

"Oh my god, this is too good."

"They are unsure of what happened and panicking that they might have done something."

"And you know what happened?"

"I do. George stumbled in drunk and woke me up. He couldn't find his room and went into Izzie's room instead. He wound up lying down next to Alex."

"Thank you so much. This has made my year." Cristina leaves the scrub room.

Burke and Bailey rush over to Alex and Meredith who have gurneys next to each other both doing CPR. The vitals come back up just in time for them to arrive. "They keep crashing every few minutes at the same time," Alex explains.

"It's so bizarre," Meredith adds.

"We need to get them into the OR right away. Karev, you come with me and Dr. Grey you go with Dr. Bailey," Burke says.

They each rush into an OR.

"Dr. Karev, do you have those chest x-rays?"

Alex hands the films to Burke, "Here you go Dr. Burke."

Meredith handing Bailey films. "Here they are Dr. Bailey." Bailey holds the films up to the light.

Burke is holding the films up.

"We could get away with a MIDCAB," Burke says.

Bailey is handing the films back to Meredith. "We are going to proceed with a MIDCAB."

Allison is in her office getting settled in. She is hanging up a painting of the New York City skyline on the wall to remind her of home. She now has a few picture frames on her desk, but there aren't any pictures in them yet. She already has a stack of papers in her in box from Richard. She sits back down in her chair. She grabs a packet of paper from her pile just as Mark is walking in. "I need you to make a phone call for me."

Allison doesn't even look up from her papers, "I am not your assistant, Mark, I am Richard's."

"You're no fun anymore."

"At least I was fun at some point." She smiles and looks up at him to see his reaction. She notices that he is no longer holding Josh. "What happened to our son? What did you do?"

"He wouldn't stop crying."

"So you just left him somewhere in the hospital? You should have brought him back to me."

"One of the doctors offered to take care of him."

Addison walks into the room. She's still holding Josh who is still quiet. "One of the doctors offered to help you stop the crying. Dr. Torres is not your babysitter, Mark."

"You gave my son to Callie? That is my boyfriend's ex-girlfriend, you idiot."

Mark looks down at his beeper. "Oh look at that, I must be going." Mark leaves the room.

"How do you put up with that?"

"I ask myself that every day." They both laugh. Addison hands Josh back over to Allison. "He really is well behaved, he only cries like that around Mark."

"I don't blame him."

"Well I have to get back to work. Your boyfriend and I have a surgery."

"Thanks for taking care of Josh."

"No problem. Bye sis." Allison waves and puts Josh back in his seat.

Izzie is walking through the halls of the hospital. Mark is walking by and they make eye contact. They both quickly turn their heads away but then Mark turns back. "Doctor…um…"

Izzie turns around, "Stevens, Dr. Stevens."

"Yeah…right. Do you know where Dr. Karev is?"

"No, I haven't seen him in a while."

"Oh that's a shame, I had a surgery for him."

"I am not doing anything right now, I could scrub in with you."

"No," Mark says bluntly without even pausing, then he walks away.

"Ew…Jerk." She stomps her foot and storms off.

In the OR with Burke and Alex he has the chest open. "Dr. Karev, can you tell me our next step?"

"You push the muscles apart and remove the front part of the rib."

"Very good, and that paves the way for what?"

In the OR with Bailey and Meredith, at this point Richard is also scrubbed in to overlook the surgery.

"You will temporarily close off the artery that lies underneath and free the lower end," Meredith explains.

"Impressive, Dr. Grey," Bailey says, "I am now making an opening in the pericardium." She begins to make the opening.

In the OR with Burke.

"I am now connecting the LAD and reopening the artery under the costal cartilage."

Back to OR with Bailey and Richard. "Very good, Dr. Bailey, looks like we have blood flow to the heart and patient's vitals are stabilizing."

OR with Burke.

"He is stabilizing, Dr. Burke."

"Thank you, Dr. Karev, good work in here every body."

Alex and Burke are washing up in the scrub room. "Do you think his wife survived?" Alex asks.

"I hope so, they both put up a good fight."

"We'll find out soon enough."

"Yes we will."

Alex walks out into the hallway and sees Meredith. He walks fast to catch up with her, "How did she do?"

"She lived, what about Mr. Jackson?"

"He lived too."

"Good. Good job."

Alex smiles, "You too."

Izzie, Cristina, and George are sitting in the courtyard eating their food. Alex and Meredith walk over with their trays in their hands and sit down. Alex sits next to Izzie and Meredith in between Cristina and George.

"Dr. Sloan is such a jerk," Izzie says.

"Welcome to my hell," Alex replies.

"Oh yeah, he was looking for you to scrub in on a surgery. Too bad you missed it."

"Seriously? Damn heart surgery."

"Yeah, because a nose job is so much better than heart surgery," Cristina says, "Oh by the way, I talked to Shepherd about you during our surgery. He said he heard moaning coming from Izzie's bedroom."

"Oh god," Alex says as he puts his hand over his face.

George quickly turns to Cristina, "You're joking right? Tell me you're joking."

Izzie catches on to the joke, "Oh yeah, you guys were so amazing."

"I thought you said you didn't remember," Alex says.

"It came back to me."

"This is not funny."

"I think it's hilarious. You really need to bring a map to your room with you when you go out drinking, George, then you wouldn't have this problem," Cristina teases, Izzie, Meredith, and Cristina laugh.

"I hate you guys. I'm going to find Sloan to see if that surgery is still open." Alex kisses Izzie and gets up and leaves.


	20. Chapter 20

Mark and Bailey are walking towards each other in the halls of the hospital. Bailey sees Mark and steps right in front of him, "Dr. Sloan."

He nods, "Dr. Bailey." Mark moves to the side to walk passed Bailey but she steps to the side to get in front of him again.

"I am not done with you."

Mark is shocked that she is talking to him that way. He is her boss after all. He is Mark Sloan afterall, "Excuse me?"

"I have heard from several of my interns about the way you act towards them, about the way you treat them, about the way you carry yourself around this hospital. I don't care how they did things in New York but this is Seattle Grace where we treat each other with respect. The interns are here to learn, not to fetch and beg. They are people, not dogs, and I expect you to treat them that way. The next time you are to teach them, they better get taught or god help you."

"Are you threatening me, Dr. Bailey?"

"No, I am telling you how it is." Bailey walks off and leaves Mark standing there stunne

Mark turns around as she's all the way down the hallway and yells, "Don't think you can get away with talking to me that way!" Bailey turns around. Mark jumps into an exam room real quick to avoid any more contact.

Richard walks into Allison's office where she is setting up her computer. "Hello, Allison, how is everything going?"

"Everything is perfect. I am just setting up this computer. I want to thank you for letting me have Josh here with me."

"It's not a problem at all. I am glad to have you on board."

"I thought it would be awkward but I think we are all getting along pretty well."

"There has been way too much drama here lately and I am glad you have brought a balance to it all."

"You sure do know how to charm a girl, Chief."

"I do what I can." Richard looks down at Josh who is lying in his seat smiling. "Are you sure this is Mark's baby? He is so well behaved."

Allison laughs, "Yeah it is hard to believe, isn't it?"

"You might want to have another test done," he jokes. Richard walks out of the room as Allison just laughs and goes back to getting the computer set up.

All the interns are in the pit with Bailey. An ambulance pulls up and they all get ready.

EMT reads off patient's information, "Eighteen year old female, Lauren Zee. She was hit in the face with a hockey puck while playing and has been unconscious ever since." Lauren has gauze wrapped all around her head, her face all bloody. She is unconscious.

Bailey directs traffic, ":Dr. Karev, go page Dr. Sloan and Dr. Grey, page Dr. Shepherd. This is your case now." Alex and Meredith rush off as Bailey continues to wheel the patient. After they page the doctors Alex and Meredith catch up. "Let's get her in for a CT." They have Lauren in for the CT when Derek comes into the tech room.

"Dr. Shepherd, 18 year old female hit in the face with a hockey puck. She is unconscious so we are checking to see what shows up on a CT."

"Thank you, Dr. Grey."

Mark walks into the room. "I've been paged."

"We have an 18 year old female hit in the face with a hockey puck. It looks like she will need her nose reconstructed."

Mark looks over at Derek, then back at Alex. "Why is he here?" Bailey stares him down. "What? You said be nice to the interns."

"Well you better learn to play nice quick because you will be working together on this girl."

"I can play nice," Derek says, then smiles. He looks up at the scan up on the screen. "It looks like we have some bleeding, let's go."

"Dr. Karev, get me those x-ray films and meet us in the OR," Mark orders. Mark, Derek, and Meredith are in the OR getting ready to start the surgery.

"Do you want to go first and I follow?" Derek asks.

"I want to take a look at the x-rays first to see the damage." Alex walks in the OR with the films and hands them to Mark. Mark holds them up to the light. "We will go first, I can get this done fairly quickly. It doesn't look as bad as I expected."

"Very well. We are going to monitor the brain activity and if things start to get bad I will let you know."

"You do that."

Meredith whispers to Derek, "I thought he would be nicer since Ally is here."

"It looks like he's back to his old self again." Derek looks up at the monitor. "We have to take over."

"I can't stop at this point," Mark says.

"I need to get in there, Dr. Sloan."

"You'll have to work around me, if I stop now she will lose the front of her face."

"We can do this."

"We've done it before."

Cristina and Izzie are in the gallery watching. "I love the how uncomfortable it gets when McDreamy and McSteamy have to work together," Cristina says.

"Do you think Derek will ever forgive him?"

"I hope not, this is the only entertainment around here lately."

George walks in and sits down next to Izzie. "I agreed to baby sit tonight."

"What is wrong with you?" Cristina asks.

"Good thing I am going to be out with Alex."

George panics, "W-wait, you're not going to be home?"

"Nope."

"You're so screwed," Cristina chimes in.

Back in the OR where Derek and Mark are busy trying to save Lauren's brain and nose. Mark is finishing up with her nose. He puts a brace on her face to keep the nose in place. "Can you just wrap her up when you're finished, Dr. Shepherd?"

"No problem. Good work, Dr. Sloan."

"Do you need me for anything?"

"I can handle it from here."

"Very well." Mark and Alex walk out of the OR to wash up. "Does it seem like I am trying to get along with people here?"

"Only sometimes, you seem really bipolar on whether you want to me nice or not."

"What do you know anyway?" Mark slams down the towel in the garbage and walks out. Alex shakes his head and walks out to join everyone in the gallery. When Alex gets up to the gallery George has his head in his hands.

"What's with him?"

"He's baby sitting tonight," Izzie explains.

"Dude, you're so whipped."

"I know."

Lauren is in post-op still not awake yet. Meredith is in the room filling out some things on her chart. Derek walks in dressed in his regular clothing. "There you are, I've been looking all over for you."

"Yeah I just wanted to make sure everything was ok with Lauren before I left."

"I am going to be home a little late tonight. Allison and I are going out for some drinks."

"Allison? Seriously?"

"We have some things we need to work out. Don't worry about it, I won't be long. You could help George watch Josh." Lauren starts to open her eyes and makes some grunting noises. Meredith and Derek turn to her. Derek grabs the flashlight out of Meredith's pocket and starts looking at Lauren's eyes, and Lauren squints. "Sorry, Miss. Zee, I probably should have warned you first."

Lauren looks to Meredith, "Is he even a doctor?"

Meredith and Derek both look at the fact Derek is not wearing his coat or ID badge anymore. "Yes, he is your surgeon…one of your surgeons."

"What happened?"

"You got hit in the face with a hockey puck?"

"I play hockey?" Meredith and Derek look at each other with panic on their faces. Lauren smiles. "I'm just kidding, I remember everything."

"Good." To Derek. "You go ahead, I got it from here."

"Ok I will see you later, Dr. Grey. Miss. Zee, I will see you tomorrow to see your progress. You will also meet your plastic surgeon, Dr. Sloan."

"I'll be looking forward to it." Derek leaves. "Are all the doctors in this hospital as hot as him?"

"You will be happy with Dr. Sloan."

"I better be, he's the one who did my nose."

"You better get some rest. I will see you in the morning."

"Thanks, Dr. Grey."

Allison is sitting at the bar with a drink in front of her and a drink for Derek sitting on the bar top waiting for him. Derek walks in, takes a quick look around the room, sees Allison and walks over and sits next to her. He picks up his drink to drink it. "Trying to get me drunk already?" he jokes.

"You got me. Nothing gets passed you."

Derek drinks his drink, "I am glad we are getting along again." He knows he sounded corny, but it was true.

"Yeah me too, being mad is just no fun."

"What happened to your business when you moved here?" he asks.

"I am running it from here until I get a good enough offer for it. I might as well keep making money off of it while I have it."

"Smart."

"Let me ask you something. I know this is going to be coming out of left field but I can't get it out of my mind."

"Go for it."

"Did you mean it when you said you loved me?" she just had to ask.

Derek shifts in his chair uncomfortably. He wasn't sure he should tell her. Things were going so well between them, he didn't want to mess it up. "I don't think it's something that should be discussed."

"We are adults having an adult conversation. You mean to tell me you can't talk about this without getting all bent out of shape? We're both over it now, Derek. I just want to know."

Yeah maybe she is over it, Derek is not so sure about himself. He looks into her eyes and says, "Yes I did."

"I did too."

"Hm." Is all he can say.

"See, that wasn't so terrible."

"No it wasn't." They look into each other's eyes and smile. They start to lean in closer but are interrupted.

"Hey guys!" Derek and Allison jump back. Derek rolls his eyes. "So you can forgive her but you can't forgive me?"

"She didn't sleep with my wife."

"That would just be wrong on so many levels. Disturbing even, very disturbing," Allison says.

"Where are your other halves?" Mark asks, pretending he just didn't see them almost kiss.

Meredith and George are in the living room sitting on the couch. George is holding Josh in his lap. They have a pizza pie sitting on the coffee table. A few slices are missing.

"How did we let them talk us into baby sitting?" Meredith asks.

"I think it had something to do with her smile."

"…and his hair."

"…and those eyes," they both say at the same time. They quickly look at each other.

"We are pathetic." Meredith says and Josh laughs. "See, even McSteamy Jr. knows that we're pathetic."

"We are pathetic and weak."

"We can't let them do this to us every time they want to do something."

"Yeah, let's take a stand tonight."

"Since when did they get along anyway?"

"I don't know, good question."

Izzie walks in the door and plops down on the couch on the other side of George, "Where are they?"

"Not back yet."

"Seriously? It's getting late. What are they doing?"

At Joe's Allison and Derek are sitting at their table and laughing. They are the only ones left in the bar but they don't even realize it. Derek looks down at his watch and shows Allison. "Is that the right time?"

"Yes it is."

"We better get going."

Allison and Derek walk up to the door of Meredith's house. Allison goes to ring the doorbell and Derek grabs her arm to stop her. She looks up at him. "About what happened tonight…" he begins to say before she interrupts him.

"It was nothing, don't worry."

"Ok good, I am glad we're on the same page." That was a lie and he knew it. He couldn't let her know that he still has feelings for her. "I had a good time, we should do this more often."

"Yeah, but maybe next time I'll have Mark watch Josh."

Derek laughs, "I forgot you had asked George to watch him. I hope they did ok."

"I have faith. Let's go in." Allison rings the doorbell. Meredith comes to the door and opens it. "I'm sorry we're late, we lost track of time. How was he?"

"He was perfect. George is inside holding him, he kinda fell asleep in George's arms. Come in."

Derek and Meredith smile at each other and they all walk into the living room. George looks up to see Allison and he smile. "Thank you so much for looking after Josh. It won't be a regular occurrence."

"Don't worry, I don't mind."

"You don't?" Derek asks stunned.

"Sure you can bring him over any time."

"She can?" Derek is still stunned.

"Why does that seem so hard to believe? I could be a baby person too, ya know."

"Whatever you say. I'm going to bed. Goodnight everyone." Derek winks at Allison and he goes upstairs.

"I'll be taking him home now. Thanks so much, George." Allison slowly takes Josh out of George's arms and puts him in the car seat. "I will see you tomorrow."

"I will walk you out." George picks up the diaper bag and they both walk out to Allison's car. Allison puts the car seat in the car. George hands her the diaper bag and she puts that in on the other side of the seat. "I don't know how you do it."

"I couldn't do it without you. Have a good night, George." They kiss. George hugs her and then goes inside. Allison gets in the car and drives off.

Derek is lying down in bed and Meredith walks in and joins him. "I am glad you had fun tonight."

She wouldn't be so glad if she knew what happened. "It's good to be getting along with everyone."

"Everyone?"

"Almost everyone."

"I could be a baby person, you know," Meredith says.

Derek kisses Meredith, "I believe you. Let's get some sleep." He turns the light off.

Meredith mumbles, "I like babies."

"Goodnight, Meredith."

"Alright, goodnight."


	21. Chapter 21

MVO:

Happy people annoy me. Now don't get me wrong, I am happy. I don't wear my happiness on my sleeve like most people do, but life is good. So maybe I should rephrase…peppy people sicken me. I am talking about the people who are so peppy to the point that other people get infected and become peppy themselves; I am immune to such pep. I am not one of those people who get infected, however, I am surrounded by people who are.

Derek is in the kitchen with a mug of coffee in one hand and his cell phone in the other hand. He seems to be extremely happy to be talking to who ever is on the other end. Izzie is sitting at the table with her hands wrapped around a mug and watching Derek walk back and forth while laughing on the phone. Every time Derek laughs or smiles so does Izzie. George walks in and takes a seat next to Izzie. He immediately notices Derek's great mood.

"What's with him?" George asks.

"He's been on the phone with Mer all morning, she's on call. It's so cute that they miss each other that much."

"Mer? On the phone? Missing him? That doesn't sound like her."

"I know, but maybe she's finally come around."

"Who's come around?" Meredith asks, just walking into the room.

Izzie and George quickly turn around to see Meredith standing there not on the phone. Izzie's mouth goes wide open with shock. George leans in to whisper, "I knew it wasn't her."

Izzie whispers back, "Then who is he so giddy talking to?"

"What's with the whispering?" Meredith says.

"We are just surprised to see you," Izzie replies, "we thought you were on call last night."

"I was but Derek is going in late so I came back to pick you guys up." She looks at Derek and then back to Izzie. "Who is he talking to?"

"We were wondering that ourselves, I thought it was you until you walked in."

Derek finally notices Meredith is there and walks over to her and gives her a kiss then goes right back into his phone call. Meredith looks to George and Izzie and then back at Derek very confused. Derek talking to who is on the phone, "Ok bye, see you later." Hangs up. He looks up to see all three of them looking at him. "What?"

"Good morning to you too. Since when are you a chat on the phone type of guy?"

"What? I can't talk with my friends?"

Meredith ignores his attitude, "Come on guys, we're going to be late."

Meredith, Izzie, and George gather in the locker room where Alex and Cristina are laughing with each other. "Something doesn't seem right," George says.

"I feel it too, but what is it?" Izzie says.

"They are laughing…together…with each other. What's going on?" Meredith walks up to Cristina, "What's wrong with you? You don't laugh…especially not with Alex."

"Shepherd."

"What about him?"

"We were laughing at Shepherd." Cristina explains.

"What about him? He's still at home," Meredith says, very confused.

"You think so, huh?" Alex asks.

"Will one of you tell me what's going on already?" Meredith is getting more and more frustrated.

"He's acting like a giddy little school girl," Cristina says, "I hate to be the one to break it to you."

"You saw it too?" Izzie says.

"I thought he wasn't coming until later," George says.

"He wasn't supposed to." Meredith walks out of the door to go look for him.

Alex yells out behind her, "Check Ally's office!"

Izzie shoots Alex a look, "Since when do you call her Ally?"

"It must be from being around Sloan so much."

Cristina, Izzie, and George follow behind her. Meredith is leaning over the nurses station propping herself on her elbows. They quickly do the same once they situate themselves next to her. They're all staring into Allison's office where Derek is sitting on her desk and handing her coffee.

"I think I liked it better when they hated each other's guts," Meredith says.

"I think I agree with you," George replies.

Allison and Derek are laughing, through laughs she says, "I remember that like it was yesterday."

"Every once in a while I think about it and laugh to myself."

"Next time you think about it you'll have someone to laugh with…just don't be thinking about me and him doing that too often…you nasty man," she teases.

"If memory serves me correctly it was you who is the nasty one."

"Nasty and naughty are two completely different things. I just happen to be both," she says confidently.

"You know, you should feel special. I wasn't supposed to come until later."

"It must be so hard being away from me for so long. You'll get used to it."

"Funny. You're funny, you know that?"

"I do." Derek gets up to leave and starts walking towards the door. "Do you ever miss home?" Derek turns back around and sits back down on the desk facing her.

"It's sickening how well they get along now," Meredith says.

"It really is disgusting," George agrees.

"He's her person," Cristina says.

Bailey walks over with Alex in tow, "Oh I am sorry, I forgot we were back in high school. I don't mean to interrupt your gossip session but there are surgeries to be scrubbing in on unless you'd rather stand around and chit chat, you could chat while doing discharges and labs. It looks like Dr. Karev is the only one who wants to scrub in today." All of the interns stand straight up.

"We're more than ready, Dr. Bailey, we were just waiting for you and…" Cristina says.

"Save it, Yang, you don't really think I will believe the lies that are about to some spewing out of your mouth."

"No ma'am."

"I didn't think so, let's go."

Derek is in his office looking over some charts. Addison walks in, "So I hear you and Allison are getting along."

"We are."

"You know people are starting to talk, Derek."

Derek panics but cannot let Addison know this. He collects himself and says calmly, "About what?"

"You and Ally."

"It's not like that."

"It just seems like that."

"I finally have a friend here and this is what I get." Derek crosses his arms over his chest.

"I will pretend you didn't just say that," Addison says, hurt.

"Oh come on, Addison."

"No forget it, Derek." She walks out of the office.

Mark walks into Allison's office, "What's going on between you and Derek?"

"We're friends."

"It's just weird, Allison."

Allison begins to get frustrated at the accusations, "I am not allowed to have friends?"

"You know what I mean."

"There is nothing going on between us. He loves Meredith and I am with George."

"Just cool it, alright?"

"Yes, father, anything you say," she says sarcastically.

The interns are following Bailey on their way to their first round. Meredith can't help but think about Derek and Allison, "It's weird, right? Like how friendly they are?"

"It's kinda gross," Cristina says.

"Girls and guys can be friends," Izzie says.

"Really? You really think so?" Meredith asks.

"Um hello, remember me? Your roommate, George, member of the male species."

"Oh you don't count, George," Cristina says.

"Thanks, thanks a lot."

"Well someone needs to talk to him because people are starting to talk," Alex says.

"Great, just what I need."

They walk into a patient's room. Sitting up in the bed is Amy Simons, Derek's migraine patient who he had operated on and became paralyzed. As soon as Izzie sees her she has a look of sympathy on her face. Amy sheepishly waves to Izzie, she waves back.

Meredith steps forward to present, "Amy Simons, return migraine patient who had a tumor removed by Dr. Shepherd a little over a month ago. Complaining of migraines and after reviewing the CT scan shows there is a new tumor growing. I have paged Dr. Shepherd to see how he wants to proceed."

"Tell Dr. Shepherd I don't want another surgery."

"But Amy…" Izzie begins to say, Bailey shoots Izzie a look and Izzie shuts her mouth.

Derek walks into the room. He sees Amy and his smile turns into a frown. She smiles back at him. "Oh, Amy, I didn't know these were your CT films I was looking at."

"I asked Dr. Grey not to tell you. I didn't want to ruin your day."

"You know this means another risky surgery," he says.

"I don't want it."

"There's more that you need to hear before you make that decision."

"This is where you're going to tell me I'll be able to walk again, right?"

Derek sits down on the foot of the bed facing her. "It's cancer, Amy."

"That's impossible." Tears roll down her cheeks. "It can't be."

"I wish it weren't true."

"But Dr. Shepherd, he just proposed to me last night. I can't have cancer. I gave up my ability to walk. That's gotta be some kind of get out of jail free card, right?"

"I have some hopeful news. We caught it early enough that we can operate. It's risky but if successful I can remove the whole tumor."

"I don't have a choice, do I? I have to try. You saved me once, you can do it again."

"I am going to try like hell."

"Let's do it then."

Derek turns to Meredith, "Schedule Amy's surgery for later today, you'll be scrubbing in with me."

"Yes, Dr. Shepherd."

Bailey and the rest of the interns are in the pit. "Seriously, George, you need to talk to your girlfriend. Her and McDreamy are making me want to puke," Cristina says.

"They're friends."

"Yeah I get that but they're becoming more sickening than you and Izzie."

"Hey!" Izzie yells.

"It's true."

"She's just happy to see a familiar face," George tries to justify her behavior not just for them, but for himself.

"Don't defend her, George, you know I am right."

"Incoming! Let's get ready people." Bailey says. An ambulance pulls up to the door. They all huddle around to get a look at the stretcher coming off the ambulance. A badly beaten female lay in the stretcher, eyes open and still.

EMT reads off patient's information, "Shelle Gray, 22, found badly beaten outside of her home. She is fully conscious and alert."

"Shelle Gray as in the radio DJ Shelle Gray?" Izzie asks.

"That would be me."

"Oh wow, I Love your show." Bailey shoots her a look. The smile wipes off Izzie's face. "I mean, do you know who could have done this to you?"

"My ex boyfriend."

"Let's her in for a CT and MRI, O'Malley," Bailey says, "Page me when you get the results."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey." George takes the gurney and wheels her off.

Addison is up in the NICU looking at one of the babies. Mark is standing in the doorway watching her. She finally looks up and sees him standing there. "Hey, Mark, what's up?"

"I never come up this way."

"So what does bring you up this way?"

"You."

"Me…seriously?"

"Yeah you, I've been having thoughts about you."

Addison rolls her eyes, "I know where this is going." Mark walks over to her and kisses her passionately. She wraps her arms around him and kisses him back. They stop and he pulls back from her and looks into her eyes.

"I owe you that."

"So we're not hopeless?" Addison asks.

"No we aren't, see you at my place tonight." Mark smiles and then walks out of the room. Addison is stunned and her trance is interrupted by a nurse walking in. She straightens up and goes back to what she was doing.

In the pit Alex is desperately looking over every case in the room to see if he can score a surgery. Izzie looks up from her sutures and watches him. A smile comes over her face because she finds his determined ways to be so sexy. She finishes her suture and stands up to walk over to him. He is reading over a chart and she snatches it out of his hands. "What are you doing?"

"You're cute when you're in surgery mode."

"Thanks but come on, Iz, hand the chart back."

"Not until I get what I want."

"And what do you want." Izzie smiles and gives him a wink. He looks at her confused. She puts the chart down and starts to walk away. He just stands there. She turns around and motions with her hand for him to follow her. A light bulb goes off and realizes what she wants and he quickly jogs to catch up with her.

"They seriously just left me in the pit alone, didn't they?" Cristina says.

"Looks like it," the patient says.

"Oh shut it, no one was talking to you." Burke walks into the pit to see Cristina frantically trying to get all the patients out. She wants to do bigger and better things than suturing all day. He walks over to her. "Please tell me you have a surgery you need me to scrub in on."

"Where is everybody else?"

"Meredith has cancer girl, George has beaten to a pulp girl, Izzie and Alex went to fool around, and I am stuck here in hell. Please tell me you've come to rescue me."

Burke smiles, "Yes I have."

"Oh thank you."

George is in a tech room with the CT scan and MRI scans up on the light box. Bailey walks into the room to look them over with him, "She's bleeding internally. Looks like everyone in her brain is ok. Book an OR, we have to stop this bleeding." George heads off to book the OR while Bailey goes to talk to Shelle. Shelle is reading a magazine when Bailey walks in she puts it down. "For as bad as it looks I can't believe you are reading."

"I need to keep my mind off it somehow."

"The good news is that there is nothing wrong with your brain. The bad news is that you have some internal bleeding and we need to get you into surgery as soon as possible. Is there anyone you'd like us to call?"

"The police." Bailey is relieved to hear that she will take action. So many people are scared or are in denial and won't take action.

"I will have the nurses call the police, in the mean time let's get you fixed up."

George walks in, "OR 1 is all set for us, Dr. Bailey."

"Ok, O'Malley, let's go." They start to wheel Shelle out.

Meredith and Derek are in the scrub room getting ready to go in for Amy's surgery. "Before we go in there we need to talk," Meredith says.

"What about?"

"You and Allison are making everyone sick with the friendliness."

"So I've heard."

"So I am not the only one that feels this way?"

"No you aren't and it's duley noted."

"Don't get me wrong, I am happy that you have a friend but it's just a bit much."

Derek is starting to get a little annoyed that she is bringing this up to him. "And you don't think that Izzie and George are a bit much with their friendship?"

"Well…" Meredith begins before Derek interrupts.

"Come on, you live with them. You can't tell me you haven't noticed."

Meredith hesitates before she says, "I really hate it when you're right."

"I know. Come on, let's go, we can talk about this later." They walk into the OR.

Bailey and George are in the OR. "O'Malley after we are done here you are going to get with Dr. Sloan to suture up her face. She got beat up pretty good, she's lucky this is all she's leaving with."

"The police are outside of the OR."

"Well good, they can wait until we are done." She yells out into the room for all to hear. "Can someone show these lovely officers where they need to be? This means not outside of my OR." A nurse rushes out of the door. "Let's stop this bleeding, O'Malley."

"Yes, Dr. Bailey. At least she's on the radio and doesn't need to be seen."

"So that makes all this ok? She's on the radio so she deserves to get the life beat out of her because no one sees her any way?"

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then I suggest keeping your mouth shut."

"Good idea."

"I am in the abdomen where most of the bleeding is." She shakes her head. "It's just horrible, what a mess."

In the OR with Derek and Meredith. "I almost have the tumor. She's lucky it is sitting where it is, do you know why Dr. Grey?"

"She's very close to losing her memory because of where it is in the brain."

"Very good. I am glad I can do something good for her, I really didn't want to do that first surgery."

"You saved her. She never would have come here if you didn't operate on her the first time." He smiles at her.

"Ah there we go. It's coming out. Derek pulls out the tumor and puts it in the pan. "Hopefully that's the last of that."

In the OR with Cristina and Burke. Cristina is doing CPR. The patient stabilizes. "That was intense."

"Good work, Dr. Yang, let's continue."

In a patient's room Mark is suturing up Shelle's face as George looks on. "So the girl with the relationship show has a rocky relationship herself?" Mark says.

"Life is beautiful isn't it?" she replies back.

"Interesting."

"I bet you're quiet the heart breaker," she says.

"I am trying to get out of that."

"It never quite goes away. So tell me what did you do that is so terrible? I can see it in your eyes."

Mark looks back and George then back at her, "I shouldn't discuss that with you."

"Oh you two?" Shelle asks as she points back and forth between Mark and George.

"What? No! I'm into chicks, honey."

"Your first problem is that you refer to us as "chicks"."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"You and I both know you need to spill your guts so just do it already."

Mark sighs, "I don't know why I am going to tell you this. I cheated on my fiancé with her sister."

"Wait, fiancé?" George asks in total shock. He had no idea they were engaged.

"Ex now, she didn't tell you?" Mark is shocked and almost hurt that Allison didn't tell George about them.

"No she didn't."

"Wow, you are a heart breaker," Shelle says.

"My ex recently had my baby. I am trying to deal with fatherhood while trying to fall out of love with her. It's hard, I see so much of her in him."

"Focus all your love on your child. Everything else will fall into place after that. Your son needs you the most now so give him all of that love that you have for her. It's not going to be easy, it never is."

"I think I can do that." He sutures up the last gash. "That's the last of it. These officers are going to talk to you. Get some rest." The cops walk into the room as Mark and George leave. Mark closes the door after them and as George walks away from Mark he grabs his arm. "Don't be hard on Allison about not telling you, it's history."

"Why did you do it to her?"

"Why do you care? You have her now, which should be enough."

"You're so self destructive," George says in disgust before he leaves.

Derek and Meredith walk into post-op where Amy is sitting up in her bed and looking into the eyes of her fiancé. She has a big smile on her face. Her fiancé looks up to see Derek and puts out his hand to shake. "Is she going to be ok now, Dr. Shepherd?" Tony asks.

"Congratulations, you are now cancer free."

"Thank you so much." He kisses Amy. "Thank you for everything."

"I wish I could have done more."

"I'm just happy she's alive and not suffering. We can get through the rest of it together."

"Have a nurse page me if you need anything else while you're here."

"Thank you, Dr. Shepherd," Amy says.

"You're welcome." Meredith and Derek walk out into the hallway. "That is why I do what I do."

Burke and Cristina are in the post op room of a patient. "Mr. Nolan, I was able to repair the tear in your heart. There were a few complications but I expect you to make a full recovery."

"Thank you so much Dr. Burke and Dr. Yang, I am starting to feel better already."

"Just take it easy for a while and let the heart repair itself."

"Will do, Dr. Burke. I am going to be doing a lot of things differently with this second chance of life you've given me. For starters I am going to be more active in my son's life."

"Glad to hear it. Get some rest, I will come back later to check on you." Burke and Cristina walk out.

Cristina mockingly says, "You are my hero."

"Because of you that man's son will know his father. It's nothing to joke about. You should be proud of yourself, you saved him."

"Yeah whatever, good for him." Burke shakes his head.

"I will see you later, Dr. Yang."

Richard walks into Allison's office, "It's getting late, you should go home."

"I told you this a thousand times already, I don't leave until you do."

"I love your dedication but do it for me this once."

"Not until I tell you about the phone call I received today."

"Oh?"

"We apparently had the most lives saved in the state for the last quarter."

"That is great news! We haven't gotten that honor in a long time. We will have to celebrate."

"I have already started the planning."

"What would I do without you?"

"Tomorrow you're meeting with all of the attendings to discuss it. I printed out an outline of the details." She hands Richard a packet of papers. "Put this on your desk immediately, I know how you misplace things around the hospital."

"Thank you, Allison, now will you go home already?"

"Leaving now, sir." Allison gets her jacket on and walks out of the office.

In the locker room the interns are getting their regular clothes on. "So Meredith, did you talk to McDreamy about the thing?" Cristina asks.

"Yeah, he wants to talk more about it later," she replies.

"What more is there to talk about?"

"I don't know."

"I talked with Allison about it too," George adds, "Oh also, her and Sloan were engaged."

"Seriously?" Izzie says.

"Yeah, I found out from Sloan today."

"That sucks, dude." Alex says.

"I am going to go talk to her about it, I'll see you guys later."

"Good luck with McDreamy, Mer," Cristina says as they all walk out the door.

"Thanks."

Meredith walks in the door and Derek is sitting in the living room on the couch. Meredith puts her things down on the floor and sits next to him. "So what else is there to talk about?"

"I just wanted to explain to you better about our friendship. I know it's a weird situation and I just want you to understand that there is nothing going on between us. I believe I owe that to you. Allison got me through some rough times. She was there for me when nobody else was. She was my best friend when my best friend was too busy screwing my wife. I know what it must look like to other people but you have Cristina, George has Izzie, and I have Allison. That's the best way I can put it. Yes, she is my friend but you are my life and nothing is going to change that, I promise."

Meredith looks at him with love in her eyes. He looks back into her eyes and smiles. She leans in and kisses him. Derek leans back as she gets on top of him now kissing more passionately. He runs his fingers through her hair then runs his hands down her side. He takes the bottom of her shirt to start lifting it off of her. She leans back and smiles at him with dirty in her eyes and goes right back to kissing him harder as she rips his shirt off. Derek sits up so Meredith is now sitting on his lap straddling him. Derek starts to kiss her on the neck as he slowly unzips her pants and quickly rips them off and throws them on the floor. Meredith lays down on her back as Derek hovers over her, she slowly pulls his pants down as he lowers himself on top of her and they start kissing more passionately.

At Allison's place George and Allison are eating some dinner at the table. George breaks the silence that fell between them, "Allison, I know."

"Know what?"

"I know about the engagement."

"He told you? He didn't even tell his own family."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was the past, I really didn't think it would ever come up."

"I am going to get going, I am tired, thanks for dinner."

"George!" George kisses her on the cheek and leaves.

At Meredith's house Derek and Meredith are naked on the couch holding each other under a blanket. George walks in and they pull up the blanket higher but George doesn't acknowledge them and just rushes upstairs. They relax only to have the door open back up and Izzie walks in and looks over to them in the living room. "Are you guys naked?"

"Izzie!!" Meredith yells.

"No," Derek sheepishly says.

"You may want to find a better place to throw your clothes if you wanted to lie." She picks Meredith's pants up and throws them at him, they land in his face. She laughs and goes upstairs. Meredith giggles.

"Next time we're going to my trailer. Come on, let's go to bed." Derek puts his pants back on. Meredith wraps the blanket around herself and they walk upstairs.

MVO:

So maybe peppy isn't so bad after all. Sometimes peppy is the way we get through the day. Peppy is the only way we show our pure happiness for where our life is. We show our pep in different ways, some are just more enthusiastic than others. Whether it's gaining your best friend back, saving a life, standing up for yourself, or just finally being happy with life we are all peppy in our own way and I am ok with that.


	22. Chapter 22

Meredith wakes up to an empty bed. Eyes half open she tries to scan the room to see if Derek is in there. He's in the corner of the room with Izzie holding up two shirts, one in each hand. A dark burgundy dress shirt and a dark grey dress shirt. Izzie studies both shirts closely and finally points to the dark burgundy shirt. Derek gives her a thumbs up in agreement.

"I'm awake, you know, you don't have to sign to each other anymore," Meredith says as she rubs her eyes.

"We didn't want to wake you," Derek explains.

"What are you doing anyway?" Meredith asks.

"We are picking out my clothes for tonight."

"You're such a girl," Meredith teases.

"Hey! I have to look good for when I accept that award."

Meredith turns to Izzie. "You shouldn't encourage him, you know."

"I'm not being encouraged, I'm not encourageable."

"That's not even a word. You do realize the party isn't until tonight, right?"

"I have a late surgery and will be going straight there from the hospital."

"No need to get snippy."

"I'll snip all I want."

"You two are sickenly cute together, I am going to make coffee" Izzie says then leaves the room.

"Sickenly…also not a word," Meredith says. Derek smiles and puts his arms around her. He playfully bites on her neck. Meredith screams out with laughter.

They're all hanging out by the nurses' station waiting for Bailey with instructions for the day. It wasn't going to be a normal day at Seattle Grace. The Savings Lives Party is being held at Joe's. Everyone is excited to see who Richard will be giving the "Most Lives Saved" award to, well mostly everyone. He wanted to show his appreciation to his hard working attendings with the award and to the rest of the hospital staff with the party.

"Which attending do you think saved the most lives?" Izzie asks.

"Why does it matter?" Cristina snaps back.

"They're giving away some award at the stupid party," Alex explains.

"It's not stupid, it's a nice gesture of appreciation."

"Can it, George. You only feel that way because your girlfriend put the whole thing together," Cristina replies.

"That's not it at all!" George walks away.

"Ok where is he going? What's with him anyway?"

"He's still bitter about the engagement."

"Oh please, he needs to get over it."

Izzie tries to change the subject, "I think it's going to be Addison." They all look at her. "What?"

"It's obviously going to be Burke," Cristina confidently folds her arms across her chest.

"No, it's going to be Derek," Meredith says.

"Let's bet on it."

"I'm in."

"Me too."

"What about you, Evil Spawn?" Cristina says as she turns to Alex.

"There is no one good left, I'm not betting on Sloan. He's slept with more people than he's saved lives." They all laugh.

"So what's the wager?" Izzie asks.

The attendings are huddled outside of Richard's office to see if they can get a sneak peak of the award before they start their days. Richard looks up from his paperwork once in a while and just shakes his head.

"I don't know why there needs to be an award given out, we've all done great jobs," Derek says.

"Oh come on man, I know you don't mean that. You're more competitive than all of us," Mark says.

"The chief is proud, he just wants to show his appreciation," Burke says.

"I think it's dumb," Mark says.

"That's because you don't save lives, you just ruin them," Derek says, half teasing.

Addison steps in, "Oh come on, Derek, I thought we've all gotten passed the bickering."

"I am just being my competitive self, I guess, I can't help it."

Allison is walking in with her jacket on and a bag of various last minute party decorations. They all walk over to her and start talking at the same time. Saying various things about who is going to win and who she thinks is going to win. She ignores them and walks into her office, they follow her. "I really need to get a lock on that door."

"Oh come on Ally, we know you know," Mark says.

"Actually I don't."

"We all know you're his right hand girl, he tells you everything."

"Well not this, he's been really secretive about the whole thing. It's a little silly if you ask me, a bunch of intelligent doctors as yourselves needing some award to prove something."

"She obviously means it's me who won it." Even Burke has gotten in on it. Allison rolls her eyes as she takes her jacket off.

Addison smiles, "I know how to get her to talk."

"Don't you dare, stay away Addy." They start to walk towards Allison as Richard walks in.

"She doesn't know anything, leave the poor girl alone." They all stop and turn around quickly to face Richard. "Is this what you've all come to? You can't even wait a few hours? Isn't it enough that we as a team saved so many lives? That's really what this day is about. If I hear anything more about this award no one will be getting it." He walks out and back to his office.

The interns are waiting by the nurse's station for Bailey. "I can't believe I am agreeing to this," Izzie says.

"So it's settled then?" Cristina asks.

"Yup, let's shake on it," Meredith replies as she sticks out her hand.

Cristina just looks at Meredith's hand, "Oh come on, Mer, we are not five. We don't need to shake on bets."

Meredith pulls her hand back to her side, "Fine then you're on."

Cristina sarcastically says, "Yeah that was so much better."

Bailey walks over, "Today we're doing something a little different. Chief Webber has a surprise for you all."

"Going solo?"

She looks at Cristina, "No, not going solo. We're going to be taking a look at all of your progress so far." They all groan. "I know, I know but the chief worked hard on this so you're all going to act like you appreciate it."

Allison is in her office. She has Josh in there with her. Derek walks in, "I guess you couldn't get a sitter."

"Not on such short notice. I won't be going to the party tonight."

"What? You have to go. You've put so much work into it."

"I don't want to have Josh there, besides George is still not talking to me," Allison says while fiddling with some papers.

"Josh will be fine, plus you have to be there when I accept my award."

"You're so cocky."

Derek looks right into her eyes, "Please come."

Allison tries hard not to smile but can't help let it slip through. "You know I hate when you do this." He doesn't say anything. "Alright alright, I'll go." Derek smiles.

"Who knows, you may actually have fun."

"I know how to have fun."

"Ally, I hate to break it to you but you don't."

"We've had plenty of fun together."

"That's not the kind of fun I am talking about." Derek's beeper goes off. "I'll see you later."

The interns are all sitting in a conference room around a table and Richard is at the front of the room with a dry erase board and talking.

"This is so boring," Cristina says as she puts her head in her hands.

"I think it's interesting," Izzie says.

"You would."

"How long do you think this is going to go on for?" Meredith asks.

"Considering he's only on his introduction I am going to guess a while," Alex replies.

"This sucks, I could be ripping somebody's chest open right now but instead we're stuck here," Cristina says.

"Real nice Cristina, you never know, you may learn something," George says, almost fed up with her complaining.

"Like what? Like how fast I can fall asleep in these uncomfortable chairs," she says as she shifts around in the seat.

Allison walks in to hand Richard some papers. She locks eyes with George and he turns away, she looks down at the floor. She frowns and walks out with her head hanging.

Meredith turns to George, "You should talk to her George, how long has it been?"

"A week," Izzie answers.

"Seriously George, get over it," Cristina says, they all look at her.

"You don't get to comment, don't forget what happened between you and Burke."

"This is so different."

"You need to settle this before she leaves you." Izzie kicks Alex in the leg. "OW! It's true!"

"So not helping, Alex."

"So that aspect of the program is going quite well, wouldn't you agree, Dr. Grey?" Richard says as he looks to Meredith.

Meredith with a panicked in her face she quickly looks up at Richard. She looks to Cristina and she just shrugs. "Absolutely, Chief Webber," she says with confidence.

"Which do you think is the most helpful?" Richard continues to question.

Meredith's mouth goes wide open, "I uh well think that the it's um…"

George speaks up to save her, "I think the attendings taking the time to show us further is we need it is the most helpful."

"Very good, Dr. O'Malley. In the second half of the program they will be there for you even more if you need them, we are working together for you to get the most out of this experience so you are prepared for your residencies where you will be on your own for a lot of the time."

"Nice save, George."

"Let's just pay attention so it goes quick." They all face forward and focus on what Richard is saying.

Mark and Addison are walking down a hallway together and looking at a chart. "I bought a bed," Mark says.

"You have a bed."

"It's not for me, it's for Josh."

Addison laughs, "Bassinet, it's called a bassinet, Mark."

Mark getting frustrated that he was corrected, "Whatever, baby bed, I don't care about what it's called. I'm trying to get better at this baby stuff."

"Obviously you're not if you don't even want to know the proper words for things."

"I know he'll start to use a bottle soon which means he can start staying over more often."

"I'm impressed."

"Actually I only know because Ally told me."

"You're a real ass, you know that," Addison says as she playfully smacks him in the arm, "You should go to the new father's class that they have here."

"I wouldn't be caught dead in that class."

"You're going and that's that."

"I will never hear the end of it."

"No one needs to know."

Mark cannot believe he is going to agree with it. "Fine, but not a word of this to anyone."

"My lips are sealed." Addison gets onto the elevator while Mark continues walking.

Mark walks into Allison's office where she has Josh on her lap. She doesn't notice Mark is in there yet because she is so focused on the baby. Mark stands in the doorway and watches her. He finally clears his throat to show that he's there. She looks up and smiles. "I just came to see how you were doing."

"I can't get a sitter for tonight."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I am still going, Derek did his stupid staring at me thing that gets me every time."

Mark laughs, typical Derek. "O'Malley still mad?"

"Yeah, he won't even look at me."

"I didn't mean for that to happen."

"I know, maybe I should just go back."

"You can't do that."

"I am not needed here."

"Yes you are. You and Derek are best friends, Richard loves you as an assistant, and we are getting along." Mark hesitates before continuing, "And I bought a baby bed, a bassinet."

"You did?"

"Yup, I am ready for this fatherhood stuff."

"Good thing, it's only 2 months in, you're not too late," Allison teases.

"I don't know how I put up with you."

"Because I am your baby's momma," she jokes.

"You're crazy. You may want to have Derek take a look at that head of yours." Mark turns around to leave, Josh starts crying. He stops and turns back around. He walks over and picks up Josh and he stops crying. "I'll take him for a while."

"You're not going to give him away again, are you?"

"No. We'll see you later Ally." Mark takes Josh's hands and waves it to say bye to Allison and then he walks out. He walks down the hallways of the hospital with Josh in his arms and every time he walks passed a woman they look back at him. He notices the attention he is getting and smiles. He sits up in the gallery next to Burke.

"Is that a baby, Dr. Sloan?" Burke asks.

"Very observant, Dr. Burke."

"What are you doing with a baby?"

"I am spending time with my son."

"In the gallery of an OR?"

"It's quiet in here, plus it's never too early to teach your son about surgery."

"I suppose not. How are you holding up?"

"It's a difficult transformation for me to make. I love my son though so it's worth it."

"I was almost a father."

"I didn't know that, what happened?"

"She lost it."

"Oh I am sorry to hear that."

"I've come to terms with it. We wouldn't have been ready anyway. You really are different around him, huh?"

"I have to be, Allison would kill me if he turns out like me."

Burke laughs, "I wouldn't blame her."

"Thanks…I wouldn't want him to be like me either."

"You seem to be handling it well so far."

"That's because he's not crying, once he cries it's right back to his mother."

"Good plan."

Josh starts to wiggle around. "That's my queue, he'll start any minute now. Nice talking with you, Dr. Burke."

Burke nods his head, "Dr. Sloan."

Addison is walking down the hall with a scrub nurse. "We just have to stop by the conference room to see if we can save Dr. Bailey." Scrub nurse laughs. They walk over to the window in the door. Bailey looks up to see Addison motioning to come. Bailey walks slowly to sneak out of the room. She has her hand on the door knob when Richard sees her.

"Dr. Bailey, where are you going?" Addison ducks so she isn't seen.

"Bathroom…that time of the month."

Richard uncomfortably says, "Oh yes of course, go right ahead." Bailey walks out of the door and joins Addison and the scrub nurse down the hall.

"How unfair is that? She got out of it and is on her way to a surgery as we speak and we're stuck here in lecture land," Cristina says.

"Now you're just being paranoid."

"I know what I saw, she's not coming back."

"Hopefully it'll be over soon."

Richard continues, "We will break for lunch then pick right back up in an hour."

"Are we allowed to drink on this break?" Cristina asks.

"That sounds like something I should be saying," Meredith replies.

"Come on let's get something to eat before he changes his mind," George says, still frustrated with them. They all get up and walk out.

Richard sits down at the table and Allison walks in. "That went longer than expected."

"It's going to go even longer until they learn to stop talking when I talk."

"I like the way you think. I'm going to head over to the bar to see how things are coming along." Allison walks out. She walks into the bar. The bell above the door rings and Joe looks up.

"Hey Allison!"

"Hey Joe, how is everything coming along?"

"So far so good, it's all going smoothly."

"That's what I like to hear."

Joe goes into true bartender mode, "How are the boy troubles?"

"Still troubles, I'm just waiting for him to come around. I don't beg…especially when I did nothing wrong."

"Hopefully it'll be soon, they never learn do they?"

"No they don't. Do you need any help in here?"

"No thanks, we've got it covered."

"Let me know if there is anything you need, you know how to contact me."

"Will do."

At lunch with the interns they all have their food on the table. "I can't believe you guys are going to do that," George is saying.

"I really hope you win, Izzie," Alex says.

"It's going to be so great when Burke wins."

"Does he even know what's on the line?" George asks.

"Yeah we haven't gotten to that yet."

"Should be interesting."

"Do you think I can sneak off to a quick surgery?" Cristina says.

"Cristina, there is no such thing as a quick surgery."

"I swear he's doing this just to torture us."

Derek walks over to the table and stands behind Meredith and puts his hand on the back of her chair. "How is the meeting going?"

"Terrible." Meredith whimpers.

"It's too bad, I have a craniotomy that I am on my way to."

"Please take me with you."

"Sorry, Dr. Yang, no can do." He turns to Meredith. "I'll see you later." He kisses her.

"Oh please, get a room you two." Derek looks at Cristina, laughs, and then leaves.

Allison walks into her office to see Mark sitting at her desk looking at a sleeping Josh. She smiles and walks over to him. Mark looks up at her, "He just went to sleep. I have a surgery so I figured I'd drop him off here."

"Good idea. Did you two have fun?"

"Did you know that babies attract female attention?" Mark asks.

"There is nothing cuter than a man with a baby."

Mark looks disappointed, "Cute? What about sexy?"

"Cute, Mark, just cute."

"Would going shirtless help?"

"With you? It always helps, it masks your personality," Allison teases.

"Goodbye, Allison."

The interns are shuffling back into the conference room and sit down at the table and immediately start talking amongst themselves. Richard is at the front of the room getting more and more agitated with them. He finally slams a book down on the podium to get their attention. They all jump from being startled. "OUT! Everybody out now!" Richard yells. They all stop talking and look at him.

"But chief…"

"Izzie shut it, let's go," Cristina interrupts. No need to make the man change his mind. They all shuffle back out of the room not turning back. They are in the hallway standing outside the door.

"What was that about?"

"Probably because you guys couldn't keep quiet for more than 5 seconds," Alex says.

"Well I'd love to stand around and chit chat all day but I am going to find myself a surgery." Cristina walks off. The rest of them look at each other and rush to the pit.

Everyone is in the Emerald City Bar with drinks in hand and talking amongst each other. Richard is standing by the podium that is set up for him. He gets all his papers in order and drops them a few times on the podium to get them straight. Allison walks in with a sleeping Josh in his seat. She walks over to Derek and they kiss each other on the cheek. She greets Meredith and then walks over to Richard to join him. "Sorry I am late, Josh was being stubborn."

"It's ok, I haven't started yet."

"Everyone seems to be having a good time."

"You should go enjoy it, have some fun."

"No thanks, I'm good just watching. I don't want to move around too much with Josh until he wakes up anyway."

"Suit yourself." Richard says, walks away to talk to a group of doctors.

Meredith looks over at Allison who is sitting by herself reading some papers. She taps Derek on the arm to get his attention and points over to her. "You should go see how she's doing and I'll go talk to George."

Derek nods and walks over. "I told you that you're no fun, you're doing work at a party."

"I have to stay with the baby. I am fine."

Izzie walks over to them, "I'll take the baby." Before Allison can say anything Izzie is picking Josh up out of his seat and she walks away.

"See, nothing to worry about. Come on dance with me." Derek puts his arm out and Allison takes it. They start to dance to the music that is on. Derek wants to stay in this moment all night. It feels so right, but it isn't right. Allison seems distant and Derek notices. "You're not fine, I know you."

"I am trying to be fine." She looks over at George who is talking to Meredith and shaking his head no. She hangs her head and a single tear rolls down her cheek. Derek brushes it away with his thumb and hugs her. She rests her head on his shoulder as they continue to dance to the music.

Izzie is sitting at the bar with a now awake Josh. She is obviously drunk and making silly faces and noises at Josh to make him laugh. Joe looks over at her and shakes his head. Alex stumbles over and sits on the stool next to her. "Awwwww Iz, where'd you get the baby from?"

"It's Baby Sloan."

"He's adorable." Now talking in a baby voice, "Aren't you little guy? Yes you are. Little baby McSteamyWeeMee." Izzie laughs at Alex's baby talk. They lock eyes and Alex licks his lips. Josh laughs. "Awww he has the cutest baby laugh." Alex starts tickling his tummy. Mark walks over.

"Did I just hear you squeal at my son, Karev?"

Alex gets a straight face, "I don't squeal."

"You two are obviously too drunk to take care of a baby." Mark takes Josh from Izzie and walks away.

"Good, I have a better idea anyway." Alex winks at Izzie. "Come on, Iz."

"After you, Dr. Karev."

"I know the perfect place." They start making their way to Joe's office. Alex grabs Izzie's hand and leads the way. Izzie is babbling the whole time.

"I want a baby. A cute little baby. Let's have a baby. I want a baby with you."

Alex unlocks the door to Joe's office. They get inside, Alex closes the door quickly behind them and locks it. Izzie is still babbling about wanting a baby. "Ok, whatever you want." Alex quickly pulls his pants down and kisses Izzie hard. She wraps her arms around him as he slowly pulls her panties off and drops them to the floor.

Meredith is still pleading with George, "Just talk to her, George."

"I am not ready to talk this over with her."

"There is nothing to talk over. We all have a past, it is unfair to punish her for something that happened before you knew her."

"She should have told me."

"Is this really worth losing her over?" George says nothing and just walks away.

Derek walks back over to Meredith, "She left."

"He's stubborn."

"Well we tri…" Derek is interrupted by an earth shattering explosion that shakes the whole building. Everyone gets startled and rushes outside to see what happened. There are flames shooting up into the air a little ways down the road. People are starting to run in the direction of the hospital.

Meredith starts to say, "Isn't that where…?"

"Oh my god, Allison!" Derek yells.


	23. Chapter 23

Everyone is huddled in the hospital by the nurse's station to gather up people. George runs over to Meredith. "How long ago did she leave?" George asks in a panic.

"I don't know."

"Where is she?" he asks even more panicked.

"I don't know, George."

Mark walks over to them. "There was a gas line explosion, the whole building is gone. Where is Allison?"

"We don't know, she was on her way home and no one has seen her," George explains.

"What? Josh was with her, I have to go find her."

"Mark no, you need to stay with us." Derek puts his hand on Mark's shoulder.

Richard gather's everyone into his office and sits down at his desk to face them. "For those of you who do not know what is going on, the condos down the street had a gas line explosion. The whole building is destroyed and they are not expecting too many survivors. At this time we need all hands on deck to tend to the injured."

"Has Allison checked in with you yet, Chief Webber?"

"No she hasn't."

Addison hadn't heard what happened yet, "What do you mean? What's going on?"

"She was on her way home when it happened," Derek replies.

"Oh god!"

Mark puts his arms around Addison. "She's gotta be ok, Addy."

"We will continue later with the award. Let's get going everyone."

They all leave to change into scrubs. Richard rubs his temples and puts his head in his hands.

"I'm homeless."

Richard immediately sits up to see Allison in his doorway with Josh in tow. Allison has tears down her cheeks. "Thank god you're alive. We were all worried about you."

"I had stopped to get more diapers."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I don't even know what I am going to do."

Derek walks in, "Chief Webber, I was thinking…" He sees Allison. "Thank god you're alive I was so worried about you. Are you ok?" Allison shakes her head no. Derek hugs her and leans in to kiss her. The kiss is soft on the lips and he lingers there for a few seconds until Richard clears his throat and they pull back quickly.

"I should go," Allison says, embarrassed and ashamed.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know." She leaves the room.

"We are starting to get a wave of survivors. A lot of them are burn victims."

"I am going to call Mercy West to see if they can send someone over." Derek walks out of the office and runs into Mark who is putting his jacket on. "Where are you going?"

"I am taking Allison to my place, I'll be back."

"These are all burn victims, we need you."

"She needs me, my son needs me, I will be right back." Mark continues on.

Meredith, Cristina, and George are in the pit and Bailey is giving them direction. Izzie and Alex rush in. "Where have you two been?" Bailey asks.

They both look at each other for a good excuse. Alex finally speaks up, "Sorry, Dr. Bailey, we were directing some people to the hospital. A group came to us for help."

"Well hurry up and get in there. We are getting a lot of burn victims in." They smile and each other then join the fray to help out. Derek walks back into the pit. "Any word, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Mark is taking her to his place so he will be back soon."

"Are her and the baby alright?"

"As alright as they can be. Chief Webber is calling Mercy West to send a few doctors over."

Addison walks over to Derek with a blank stare on her face. "There are a lot of casualties."

"She's alive, Addison."

"Oh thank god. Where is she?"

"Mark is taking her and Josh home."

George calls over to Derek, "I need you over here Dr. Shepherd, my patient got hit in the head by some falling debris." Derek rushes over to assess the patient.

"Come on, O'Malley, let's get him in for a CT."

In the OR Derek is working on the patient and looks up at George. George is trying hard to focus but his head is elsewhere. Derek stops what he's doing, George notices and looks up, "I hope she's ok, I really do."

"I hope so too, but I need you to focus." Derek doesn't know why he didn't just tell George that she is alive.

"Right, I know, I'm sorry."

Derek goes back to the surgery and every few seconds would look up at George who is staring at the brain but not moving. "Dr. O'Malley, I need you to get those bleeders. If you are unable to focus I will need you to leave my OR and send in someone who can."

"I can do it."

Back in the pit Cristina is doing CPR. The patient flat lines. "Damn it, lost another one. Time of death 2313."

Izzie is getting more suture supplies and Alex walks up to her. "Are you ok to stitch someone up? You have been drinking."

"I am good, I wouldn't do it if I knew I wasn't ok." She holds her hand up to show it's as steady as ever.

"I am not ready yet."

"Don't let Bailey catch you."

"She is in surgery with Sloan, I'll be safe for a while."

Derek walks out of the scrub room after his surgery and heads down the hallway towards the elevator. Richard sees him and walks over to him. The elevator opens and they both step on. They are the only ones in the elevator. Derek feels Richard staring at him, "I know what you're going to say."

"Oh do you? By saying that do you think that I am still not going to say it?"

"I was hoping."

"I don't know what it is that you're doing but you better stop whatever it is. I made a promise to Meredith's mother to look after her. Now I am not going to tell anyone about what I witnessed today because it's none of my business but if I see it continuing I will put an end to it." Derek stares straight ahead and doesn't say a word. "I will not have you hurting either of those girls. I hold them both dear to my heart, do you understand me?"

"Yes sir."

"I am glad that's understood." The elevator doors open and Derek steps out. He sees Addison and walks over to her.

"Hey, I am going to get going. I will be at Mark's place with Ally. Have me paged if it's an emergency and someone needs me. Don't stay too late, ok?"

He has to tell her what happened. He can't get it off of his mind. "Addison, I…" He stops.

"Yes?"

"I'll let the Chief know you're leaving." Addison leaves.

Mark is in the pit directing the interns with each burn victim. A tall skinny man with salt and pepper hair who looks to be in his early fifties walks over to Mark. "Dr. Sloan I presume?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

"I am Dr. Nickels from Mercy West."

"We have everything covered here."

Richard walks in and walks over to Mark. "We're getting the next wave in right now." He looks to Dr. Nickels. "Thank you for coming, Dr. Nickels, we do appreciate it." Richard shakes Dr. Nickels's hand. Dr. Nickels turns to Mark and smirks and Mark clears his throat.

"I brought some good doctors with me."

The interns are standing by a gurney observing what's going on with Richard and Mark. "Who is that guy?" Cristina asks.

"Dr. Nickels, he's in plastics over at Mercy West," Alex replies.

"Do you get like Plastics Magazine or something?"

"One of my professors told me all about the big names to listen for when he found out I was going for plastics."

"That was nice of him," Izzie says.

"So why aren't you going over there to kiss his ass?" Cristina asks.

"Are you crazy? If Sloan saw me I'd never see the inside of an OR again."

"Oh please, like you do anyway. You should go over there and make Sloan jealous."

"Sloan doesn't get jealous."

"Watch and learn." Meredith walks over to Dr. Nickels who is talking with his doctors. Mark perks up and watches her. "Dr. Nickels, I'm Dr. Grey, it's nice to meet you." She shakes his hand as Mark makes his way over to them.

"Ellis's daughter? Pleasure is all mine."

Mark clears his throat. "Dr. Grey, can I see you over here for a second?" Meredith looks back at Alex and smiles and continues to walk with Mark. "What are you doing?"

"Introducing myself," Meredith says with a smile.

"He's the competition."

"He's here to help us, I was just being friendly." Before they can say anything more the next wave of patients come in and all of the doctors rush to greet the ambulances.

Allison is lying in Mark's bed next to a sleeping Josh. She is looking at her son with love in her eyes and tears streaming down her cheeks. She hears the door open and Addison walks into the bedroom. "I am so sorry, Ally." Addison walks over to the bed and puts Josh in the bassinet. She lies down next to Ally like they used to do when Ally had a nightmare. Addison was always used to being there for her sister when she was in trouble because of their age difference. It was easier for Allison to go to Addison than to her parents. "Try to get some sleep." Allison closes her eyes and so does Addison and they both fall asleep. Mark comes home and sees them sleeping in the bed and goes to set up the sofa bed in the living room for himself. Allison walks out into the living room.

"I'll sleep here."

"You two need each other, I will be fine here."

"I can't sleep anyway. I am going to go for a walk."

"It's raining out."

"The rain will clear my head." Allison gets her coat and leaves.

The Grey house is quiet. It's dark. Everyone is sleeping. Even George managed to finally fall asleep. Everyone wakes up startled to the sound of a knock on the front door. George throws a shirt on and rushes down stairs hoping it's news about Allison. He opens the door to see a soaking wet Allison standing in the doorway. "Thank god you're alive. Where have you been?"

"I was at Mark's house."

"What? How dare you? I have been worried sick about you and you go there? What to have another romp around the bedroom one more time? You couldn't even call me?" he says, annoyed.

"But he…" she begins.

George interrupts, "He just wants to get in your pants. You two are perfect together, all about sex sex sex."

"Excuse me? Just because you have trust issues don't take that out on me."

"You were engaged!"

"A long time ago! He broke my heart and I wanted to just move on from that part of my life but you just can't let it go, can you? You know what, I don't have to deal with you and your mistrust. Have a nice life, George O'Malley, I am done." Before George can say anything she turns around and gets in her car. George slams the door and stomps up to his room.

At this point Meredith and Derek are sitting up in bed listening to what's going on. "All he needed to do is trust her," Derek says.

"How can he? She's always sneaking around flirting with everyone."

Derek getting more annoyed with her accusations, "That is not true. He's been treating her like crap."

"Well maybe if she wasn't a whore."

"I cannot believe you just called her that. I am going to see if she's ok." Derek puts a t-shirt on and rushes out the door, down the stairs and outside into the rain. Allison is still sitting in her car which is parked in front of the house. Derek sees the car runs over to the passenger side door, opens it, gets inside. "Drive." Allison turns the car on and they drive off.

Mark wakes up in the morning to feed Josh. He walks out into the living room to check on Allison. The sofa bed is empty and doesn't look like it's been slept in. He calls into the bedroom, "Addison, did you hear Ally come home last night?"

"No I didn't."

Mark says to himself, "Where could she be?" He looks to Josh, "I guess it's the bottle for you little guy, mommy and her boobs aren't here." At this point Addison had walked into the room.

"Do not talk to my nephew about boobs."

"He loves them on his own. He's a smart kid."

"He only likes Allison's because they feed him."

"We all like Allison's," he jokes. Addison slaps him in the arm and he laughs.

"Today is your class."

Mark rolls his eyes, "Don't remind me."

"I have to remind you or you'll forget."

"That's the idea."

"What am I going to do with you?"

"I have a few ideas."

"Feed your son, I am taking a shower." Addison walks away and Mark grabs a bottle.

Meredith wakes up to an empty bed. She looks around the room to see no Derek in sight. She walks to the kitchen where Izzie has made George a huge breakfast. Waffles, pancakes, French toast, eggs, bacon, chocolate milk, and orange juice are all over the table. "How are you holding up, George?"

"I deserved it."

"No you didn't. She didn't eve try to understand where you were coming from," Izzie says.

"Yeah George, you were worried so some stupid things were said. You deserve a chance though."

"I should've just talked to her, Alex was right."

"Not to sound uninterested because I really do care but I was wondering if either of you saw Derek or heard him come back in," Meredith says.

"No I didn't."

"Me neither."

"You gonna eat that?" She grabs a handful of pancakes and puts them on a plate.

Allison opens her eyes and begins to look around. She forgets where she is for a second and scans the room quickly with her eyes. She hears someone in the shower. She rolls back over and puts a pillow over her head to drown out the sun and the noise. Derek rushes out of the shower with a towel around his waist and runs into the bedroom. "Come on Ally, get up we're late." He pulls the blanket off of her.

"Late for what? It's Saturday." Pulls the blanket back.

"We work every day!" He starts rummaging through his clothes and throws a black polo shirt and khaki pants at her. "Put these on."

"I love that you woke up in time to take a shower and didn't bother waking me up." She takes her clothes off and starts putting what Derek gave her on. "I can't believe I have to go commando in khakis."

"Just put them on, we have to go."

"I don't know why you're rushing, we took my car here, I have the keys, I say when we go." She fixes her hair to the best of her ability then steps back and puts her arms out to the side. "How do I look?"

Derek starts laughing. "I'm sorry, it's not funny. It's adorable."

"These pants won't stay on my ass and I have no panties on."

"That shirt is so huge on you, no one will even notice." He continues laughing.

"I am glad you find this so amusing. Let's go."

In the locker room George is pulling down the pictures of him and Allison from his locker. "You're just going to give up?"

"I have no choice."

"She broke up with you? I don't understand why, you only ignored her for a week," Cristina jokes.

"You really need to stop trying to help," Meredith says.

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Derek never came back home last night."

"Where did he go?"

"We got in a fight and he left."

"With her?"

"I'm not sure."

Allison pulls up to the hospital parking lot. "Ok you get out and walk in from here and I'll park and go in from somewhere else. We can't be seen coming in together."

"Could you at least pull up to the door?" Derek asks.

"No, too risky."

"This is not mission impossible, you know."

"Please, I know how fast word travels and this looks bad."

"I'll see you later." Derek gets out of the car and Allison drives off.

The interns are in a patient's room rounding. George steps forward to present, "Tim Craft, 25, was supposed to have surgery this morning to relief pressure on his brain but the surgery has been pushed until Dr. Shepherd gets in."

"Where is Dr. Shepherd?" Bailey asks. They all look at each other. No one wants to say in front of the patient that he's running late and they don't know where he is. "Well?"

"He's in another surgery that went late," Alex says, soon after Derek rushes in.

"Sorry I am late, I…"

Alex interrupts him, "I was just telling Mr. Craft how you were running late in a surgery."

"A surgery, yes, sorry about that. It went longer than expected, I do apologize. We are going to get you into surgery right away. Who is my intern today?"

"That would be Dr. O'Malley.

Izzie whispers to Alex, "Awkward!" Alex smiles.

"Dr. O'Malley, please prep Mr. Craft and I will see you in OR 1."

Allison sneaks into her office before it's noticed that she's late. Mark walks in right behind her, "I dropped Josh off at the sitter."

"I am sorry I didn't come back last night. I got into an argument with George and broke up with him."

"I am sorry to hear that. Will you be coming home tonight?"

"Yes I will and I'll even stay this time."

"I have something I have to do so I'll be back a little later."

"I'll have dinner ready for you."

"That shirt looks like a shirt a bought Derek a few years ago."

"Weird, I bought this a few days ago." Addison walks in.

"I'll let you two talk." Mark walks out.

Addison walks over to Allison's desk and sits on the corner of it facing her. "What happened last night?"

"I broke up with George."

"Oh Ally, I am so sorry. Maybe you just need to be on your own for a while. You have so many things to worry about right now. So where were you all night? You didn't come back."

"Derek's trailer."

Addison's eyes go wide, "Allison! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Nothing happened. We stayed up for most of the night and talked."

"Is that his clothing?"

"Yeah, I had nothing to change into. I'll be at Mark's tonight." Richard walks in and Addison leaves.

"You know I am not going to let you stay here today, Allison."

"I need work to clear my head. I need to be here."

"You need to get your life together. Take all the time you need, I will still pay you."

"I appreciate it, I really do, but I need to be here. I will get my life together in my own time, I promise you."

"If you need anything just ask."

"Thank you, Richard."

The interns gather out side of Mr. Craft's room. "Why did you cover for him?" Meredith asks.

"He is our boss. I don't want to be the one to tell a patient that we have no clue where his doctor is, that's all you."

"I wonder when we're going to find out about that award, I'm running low on cash," Cristina says.

"It's not happening, Addison is going to be the winner," Izzie replies.

"I still can't believe you put your hair on the line as well. That's going a little too far I think," George says.

"It's going to be so funny. Bailey is going to flip. Better invest in some scrub caps to cover the bald heads," Alex laughs.

"I can't believe I got stuck with Shepherd again."

"Get over it and go prep your patient." George walks back into the patient's room. "So where do you think McDreamy went last night?"

"To his trailer. I think I should apologize to him."

"Yeah fighting over her is not worth it," Izzie agrees.

"Why didn't she just go home when she was supposed to? Now we're stuck with her."

"I blame George, he's the reason she stayed," Cristina says.

"And now look what happened," Meredith continues.

"She really isn't that bad," Alex says, then they all look at him.

"She's evil."

"You chicks and your drama." Addison walks over to them.

"Who wants in on a preemie surgery?" The all raise their hand. "Karev, come with me."

They walk off. "It's like she knows our thoughts," Meredith says.

"What?"

"She didn't pick us because she knows we hate Allison," Meredith explains.

"Now who's the paranoid one?"

Addison and Alex walk into the NICU to get the baby for surgery. "Hey listen, I know all you interns are close but try to make Allison feel welcome here. She picked up her whole life to move here and she's trying."

"I don't get involved, I just want to do my job."

"I know, I'm just saying she really didn't want to hurt George."

"Whatever, he was asking for it."

"I know there is no changing their minds so I'm not even going to waste my breath."

"Why do you care so much about what they think?"

"Because my sister deserves better than to be thought of as a whore."

"Fair enough."

The interns are eating in the courtyard and Alex walks over to the table with a tray of food. He puts the tray down on the table, kisses Izzie, and sits down. "It feels good to save a baby's life."

Cristina almost chokes on her water, "You're scaring me, Mr. Plastics."

"I love helping all people."

"Mr. Humanitarian," Cristina says sarcastically, "gag me."

"So Addison saves another life. Things are looking up for me," Izzie says with a smile.

"Not a chance, Blondie."

Izzie looks at Meredith and George, "Why are you two so quiet?"

"I think he was with her last night," Meredith says.

"Just ask him and if he squirms you'll know that he was," Cristina says.

"She's wearing very huge pants today. Guy pants…man pants…men's pants."

"We get it, George, they're probably McSteamy's. She is staying with him and she doesn't have anything to wear."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Meredith asks.

"Oh so we're saying they definitely were together?" Cristina asks, "Because if we are just let me know and I'll crucify him."

"Addison asked me to be nicer to her because of you people. I don't even talk to her," Alex says, he can't stand when they get like this.

"You're not going to listen to her, are you?"

"I honestly don't care either way."

Derek walks into Allison's office. She is on the phone so she motions for him to sit down. He sits in a chair she has set up in front of her desk. Allison is talking to who ever is on the phone, "That got pushed until later today and will be presented at a smaller scale. He wants it to be the attendings and him only. Yes no problem, I'll tell him you called. Bye." She hangs up.

Derek whispers, "I don't think they suspect a thing." He tries to hold in his laughter but he can't.

"You're an ass. There is no need to mock me."

"So about tonight…" he begins to say. He wants to spend more time with her. It's like he cannot keep away, something keeps drawing him back in.

"Tonight I will be cooking dinner for Mark." She refuses to let herself get attached.

"Oh so you're not going to stay at the trailer?" Derek asks, sounding disappointed.

"No way, I'm not staying in the woods by myself it's too scary. Besides I need to be with Josh. This will be the closest thing we'll ever be to a real family so I want to enjoy it."

"The woods are not scary, the boogieman will be there to protect you," he jokes.

Allison smirks, "I don't even know why I hang out with you."

"Because I am handsome." He cannot help but be flirty with her. She brings it out of him. He knows the little games she plays and he loves it when she plays with him.

"You are not that handsome."

"I am extremely handsome."

"We have got to do something about that ego, Dr. Shepherd." Allison is not falling for his charming act. She knows what he's doing, she's seen it many times before. It's going to take more than that to rope this girl in.

Derek is relentless, hoping he will get some kind of a reaction out of her, "Dr. Shepherd? You know I like it when you call me that."

"Well it is your name."

"So you're really not coming over tonight?"

"Derek, go be with Meredith. Make up with her and be happy."

"I will, I just worry about you." The truth is that right now he just wants to be with her. He wouldn't dare tell her though.

"Don't worry about me, I'll take care of myself."

Bailey comes into the office. "Sorry to interrupt, Dr. Shepherd, we need you in the pit."

"I was on my way out anyway." Derek leaves and Bailey follows after him. Derek walks into the pit where Meredith has a patient who is seizing. He runs over to where she is.

"Her husband says this is the first time it's happened, I can't get them to stop." Just then the patient coughs up blood.

"Let's get her into an OR right away. Get her an MRI." Meredith wheels her off and Derek follows.

The patient stops seizing when they get into the elevator. She is asleep but is breathing fine on her own. Derek and Meredith look at each other in amazement. None of them have seen anything like it before.

"I am sorry about last night." He had to say it, it was eating away at him.

"No, I am sorry. I should respect the fact that you're close with her."

"And I overreacted, I shouldn't have left." They were finally communicating, this was nice.

"Where did you go?"

"My trailer." The elevator door opens and they get off and they wheel her in for an MRI. They walk into the tech room to see the results of the scan.

"Were you with her?" There was no way around it, she had to know.

Might as well be honest with her, Derek, it will hurt more coming from someone else, "I was. She slept in the bed and I slept on that very uncomfortable bench. Remind me never to do that again. My back is killing me."

"You're being honest?" Meredith asks, very surprised. She was expecting him to lie.

"I have no reason not to be, nothing happened." That he was truthful about, he just left the part off about him almost wishing something had happened. The scan comes up on the screen. An aneurysm had burst and she also has a lot of internal bleeding in her abdomen. "What the hell happened to her? We need to operate right away, get her out of there." They rush in to place her back on the gurney and wheel her off to surgery.

Cristina is looking at a chart at the nurse's station and Burke comes over to her. She looks up at him and smiles. She puts the chart down and faces him. "I bet on you."

Burke is confused, "Bet on me for what?"

"For that crazy award that Chief Webber is giving out, I bet on you so you better win."

"What did you bet?" Burke starts to get worried, this is Cristina we are talking about.

"A hundred bucks and my hair."

"Your hair?"

"Yes."

"All of it?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't think to put this passed me before you agreed?"

"It was kind of my idea."

"By kind of you mean it was."

"Sort of, yes. Don't worry, you're going to win right?"

"You better hope so." Then Burke walks away.

Izzie walks over, "What was that about?"

"I told Burke about the bet."

"And?"

"Yeah, he's not happy."

"I'm sure he'll get over it."

"Wait, you still think you're going to win don't you?"

"Positive."

"Wanna put something else on the line?"

"Like what?"

"Who ever loses has to do the other's labs for a month."

"You got it, Yang."

Derek and Meredith walk out of the OR and into the scrub room. He slams his gloves into the garbage. They had just lost the patient in surgery. "Something did not feel right about that surgery."

"I felt it too."

"The police will talk with him more in detail, I have already called them and gave them all of the information I have. Chief Webber is having us all meet in his office so I will see you at home." Derek leaves the scrub room. Derek enters Richard's office where the rest of the attendings are already sitting and waiting for him. "Sorry I am late."

"I had this speech prepared but I think I am going to go with the shorter version. I don't know why I need to give an award to just one person when all of you equally deserve it for all your hard work but this is what the board wants so this is what the board is going to get. They think it's going to boost morale but I don't agree. This is going nowhere, I can tell by the blank stares on your faces." They all smile. "This award goes to Dr. Montgomery." Nobody moves or makes a sound. Richard clears his throat. "I uh guess you can come up and get it." She slowly stands up and starts walking towards the desk. "Or maybe I'll bring it to you." He stands up and walks towards her. They meet half way and he hands her the plaque.

"Thanks, Richard."

Mark mumbles to Derek, "Well that was awkward."

"Very."

The attendings walk out of Richard's door and the interns are patiently waiting to see who has won the award. Even George and Alex are there. One by one the attendings walked out the door. As each person left empty handed each intern hanged their head. Addison was the last to leave. They all notice the plaque in her hand and Izzie smiles wide. "Take that, Yang!" she yells.

"This can't be happening." Cristina says.

"Oh it is," Alex says with a huge smile on his face mostly because Izzie was going to keep her hair but also because the look on Cristina's face was priceless.

"There must be some mistake."

"Oh, it's no mistake. It's wonderful," Izzie says, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Derek is going to kill me."

Alex looks at his watch, "I have a thing to go to, catch you guys later." He leaves.

"What does he mean he has a thing to go to?" Cristina asks, "It better not be some cool surgery that I don't know about."

"I have no idea. He's been going to this mysterious thing for a few weeks now. He says it's here at the hospital and Addison knows about it but when I asked her she gave me some weird answer."

"Well it's getting late and I am going home," Meredith says.

"I'll go with you."

"I'm right behind you guys," George says as he brings up the rear. They walk away leaving Cristina standing there still dumbfounded that she lost the bet.

Addison is walking towards the main doors of the hospital when she sees Mark trying to sneak out. She walks up to him and grabs his arm to turn him around. "Not so fast…to new daddy class you go."

"Don't say it so loud people may hear you."

"GO!" She yells. Mark walks back inside and she leaves. Mark walks into a room where there already is a group of father's sitting in chairs facing the front of a room. He tries not to make a sound or draw attention to himself as he slides into a chair in the back of the room. He pulls a baseball hat out of the inside pocket of his jacket and puts it on. A familiar voice starts talking from the front of the classroom, he quickly looks up.

"Karev?"

"Yes I am Dr. Karev." Alex looks to where the voice had come from and he squints a little to see who it is. "Dr….Sloan, is that you?"

"Just get on with it, Karev," Mark says as he pulls the baseball hat over his eyes

"Yes sir," Alex says with a huge grin across his face.

Allison is at Mark's house. She is in the kitchen making food and Josh is sitting in the seat watching her. Allison is talking to Josh as she stirs a pot. "Your father should be home any minute now and then I could go get my mommy clothes back from Derek's."

The door opens and Allison turns to see who it is. Addison walks in, "Hey, what are you making? It smells good."

"I am attempting to make fettuccine alfredo. It sounds easy enough but I have been known to screw up simpler things. Where is Mark? I want to eat so I can go to Derek's and pick up my stuff."

"He's at daddy class."

Allison laughs, "Seriously?"

"I made him go."

"And he listened?"

"He had no choice."

"So did you get your award?"

"You knew?"

"Of course I knew, who do you think ordered it?" They both laugh. Allison checks the oven and pulls out a pan. "The chicken is done. I am going to put all of this on plates then head to Derek's trailer really quick, I hate to be there alone at night. It's too freaky." Allison puts the pasta and the chicken out on 3 separate plates and sets them at the table. "Can you stay here with Josh?"

"Yeah no problem." Allison gets her jacket on and leaves.

Meredith, Izzie, George, and Cristina are at Meredith's house, they're huddled in the bathroom with scissors and a razor. "I don't think this is a good idea. We should come up with something else," Izzie says.

"This was the bet, let's just get it over with," Meredith says.

"If Izzie wants to do something else, I say we listen to her. She did win after all."

"I was thinking these instead." Izzie takes a plastic bag out of her pocket and hands it to Meredith. Meredith empties the bag out onto the floor.

"What are those?" Cristina asks.

"Are those bald caps?" Meredith says.

"They are."

"You've got to be kidding me," Cristina says as she gets a closer look at one of them.

"Ok then we will shave your head for real."

She picks up a bald cap. "I love these!"

In daddy class all of the father's are practicing holding a new born. "You would be surprised how many people do not know hold to hold a new born baby. These dolls are made to feel exactly like a new born and you will practice in every class to get more comfortable with it so you wont be nervous around your own child," Alex says. He looks over at Mark who is struggling with his doll. He walks over to him. He whispers, "Now Dr. Sloan, you should be the person with the least trouble out of all of these chumps."

"Not a word of this to anyone, do you understand me, Karev?"

"You have my word."

"Good."

"As long as you let me scrub in on all of your better surgeries," Alex adds, he just couldn't pass up a perfect opportunity.

"What? Are you crazy?"

"I could call everyone down here right now," he says as he pulls out his phone.

"Alright alright." He holds the baby doll the right way.

"Much better, Mark, keep up the good work," Alex says condescendingly. Mark shoots him an angry look. "Who wants to learn how to change diapers?" They all groan.


	24. Chapter 24

At Derek's trailer Allison is in the shower. She turns off the water, opens the door, grabs a towel, and wraps it around her body. She steps out of the shower and grabs another towel and walks into the main living area of the trailer. She uses the other towel to dry her hair off. Someone walks up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder. She jumps, screams, turns around and kicks the person in the shin.

Mark gets home and opens the door slowly and closes it slowly. Josh is already sleeping and Addison is waiting for him at the table. All 3 plates of food still on the table untouched. "You never told me Karev was teaching the class."

"Oh, I must've forgotten." She says with a smile.

"Where is Allison?"

"She went out a while ago and hasn't come back. I am starting to get worried."

"I'm sure she'll be fine." He looks at the food as if he hadn't eaten for days. "Come on, let's eat."

At Meredith's house Meredith is settling into bed as George walks passed the door. The door is open and he looks in as he walks by. He stops and stands in the doorway, "No Derek tonight?"

"I guess not."

"Good night, Mer."

"Good night, George."

The Sloan household is quiet. Lights are off and everyone is asleep. Allison creeps inside with every move slower and slower as not to make a sound. A note is placed on her pillow, she picks it up and reads it. It's in Mark's handwriting, it reads "Allison, your food is in the fridge for when you get home. Please eat something." She smiles then looks at the time, it's 4:30am, too late. He would surely wake up and question where she's been. She quietly slips into bed and dozes off as soon as she hits the pillow.

Mark's alarm goes off at 6am. Allison can barely open her eyes to see what time it is. She tries to rub them open but that doesn't work. Josh cries from the bedroom, she stands up and walks into the room to get him. She tries to fix her hair to look as awake as possible. Mark sees her pick Josh up and he lies back down in the bed. She sits on the end of the bed and begins to breast feed him.

"What time did you get home last night?"

"I didn't notice, I pretty much hit the bed as soon as I walked in the door," she lies, it would hurt him so much to tell him the truth.

"You look terrible."

"Thanks, that means a lot to me. You're so sweet"

"Do you have to do that in front of me?"

"I didn't think it bothered you."

"I'm sorry, it doesn't, it's just that I have blue balls."

"Too much information!"

"We're trying this whole moving slowly thing, it's killing me."

"Well I will just feed him in the other room," she says as she stands up.

"No! Stay, please," he pleads, "I need it."

"You're a sick man, you know that?" She walks out of the room.

Mark yells into the other room, "I just need a peak!"

Allison yells back, "No!"

At the hospital Allison is at her desk with her head in her hands. She still is barely awake. Talking to herself she says, "Why did I even come in today?"

"Because you're a workaholic."

Allison jumps up startled not knowing anyone was in the room, "You really need to stop sneaking up on people, Derek, you never know who will turn around and kick you."

"I have a bruise, you know."

"Serves you right."

"We should talk about last night."

"Not right now." She points to the hallway behind him where Meredith is walking in and spots him. She begins to walk over to him. He turns around.

"Sorry about last night, I have been here all night," he lies. He hates lying to her but there was no way he could tell her the truth.

"You look terrible, like you haven't gotten any sleep. Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah I just need a few hundred cups of coffee, I will be fine," he jokes.

Meredith smiles and joins back up with Izzie and George. Derek leaves the office. In the intern locker room Cristina and Meredith are standing in front of the mirrors with the bald caps on. Alex is laughing and George has a look of shock on his face.

"This looks ridiculous," Cristina whines.

"Isn't that the point?" Alex asks.

"Shut up mister secret meetings, just wait until I find out what you're up to," Cristina snips.

"Dr. Bailey is going to…" George starts to say.

Bailey interrupts, "Dr. Bailey is going to what?" They all quickly turn around at the sound of her voice. She looks at Cristina and Meredith. "What are you two doing? This is a hospital not a fraternity!"

"Sorority is with girls." Bailey shoots Izzie an angry glare. Cristina and Meredith look at Izzie like she is insane to even think about correcting Bailey.

"We lost a bet."

"Does it look like I care?" They shake their heads no. "You're damn right I don't. You are DOCTORS, you better start acting like it. Now put those things away and come out into the hallway."

"Yes Dr. Bailey," Cristina and Meredith say at the same time. They stuff the bald caps into their lockers then they all follow Bailey out to start rounds.

"I knew she'd never go for it," Alex says.

"I will just have to think of something else."

"Just make Mer do another month of labs like I am doing."

"Cristina!" Meredith yelps.

"If I have to suffer, I am bringing you down with me."

"Thanks…really."

"No problem, so did you ever find out where McDreamy was last night?"

"He said he was here all night."

"That's odd for him."

"I know."

Mark walks into Allison's office which is filled with coffee cups all over her desk. "So you never told me what happened last night."

"What do you mean what happened?" Allison asks trying to act as innocent as she can.

"Well you got back pretty late, you couldn't have been at the trailer the whole time."

"No…I wasn't," she says as she tries to hide her smile.

Mark looks closely at her. "Wait a second, are you glowing?" Allison quickly shakes her head no. "You had sex last night, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know that look all too well, you can't hide it from me. Why didn't you just tell…" Stops talking and turns around to leave the office.

Allison calls out to him, "Mark!" He doesn't stop. "Mark stop!" She gets up and rushes after him. She positions herself right in front of him and looks up at him. He has a look of fury on his face.

Mark tries to stay as calm as he can. He does not want to yell and cause a scene but he is beyond pissed off. In a low voice he manages to ask the question. "You had sex with him, didn't you?" Allison says nothing but she hangs her head and then finally shakes it yes. "I can't even look at you right now." Mark pushes passed her and gets onto the elevator.

The interns are walking out of a patient's room behind Bailey. "Things with Burke have been too normal," Cristina says out of nowhere.

"Meaning?" Meredith looks for clarification.

"I need something to spice up our sex life."

"Last time you did that, his parents walked in," Meredith teases.

"No more sex at the hospital, I think it's bad karma or something."

"You could dress up as a naughty nurse and wait for him to come home, most guys love that fantasy and he's a doctor so he should love it to." They all just look at Izzie. She continues, "Not like I've ever done it before." She smirks at Alex.

"Any minute now Sloan will be stopping by to whisk me away to a surgery so I hope you suckers have fun with the rest of your rounds," Alex boasts.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I know things."

Mark walks over to them, "Karev, come with me now."

"Excuse me Dr. Sloan but we're not finished with rounds," Bailey says.

"Dr. Bailey, now is not the time for you to be yourself. I am not in the mood for it," Mark says harshly, "I am taking Dr. Karev with me now." Bailey' mouth goes wide open and the others follow. Mark and Alex quickly walk away from the group and onto an elevator. "I made this deal with you that you'll get in on all my surgeries so you're going to have to listen to me right now."

"We are going to surgery though, right?"

"Yes of course, Karev, but I need to talk to someone and you're the only person who I can trust." He puts his hands on the wall of the back of the elevator. "She slept with him."

"Oh no no no, I don't do drama."

"You will listen or I will tell everyone about your little class, I am sure none of your friends know about it."

"Fine. Who slept with who?"

"Allison slept with Derek."

"Why do you care? You're with Addison."

Mark turns around. "I still love her." The elevator door opens before Alex can say anything else. They leave the elevator in silence.

"How does he have Sloan in the palm of his hand like that?" Cristina asks, "Burke wouldn't even do that. We have to figure out what's going on."

"We should follow him next time," Meredith says.

"He goes every other week day," Izzie says.

"You guys are insane, you're going to stalk him?" George says.

"You got any better ideas?" Cristina asks.

"No, I don't want any part of this. It's stupid," George says as he crosses his arms across his chest.

Bailey stops in her tracks and turns around to face the group, "Everyone to the pit." They all walk away.

Allison is looking at a box that had been sent to her. She kicks it underneath her desk. She picks up her phone just as Addison is running into her office. Addison closes the door after her, "She's here!"

Allison hangs up the phone, "She sent me clothes!"

"She's up to something."

"As always."

They hear the door open and they both turn around to see someone standing in the doorway. A tall thin woman in her late 30s with long flowing red hair and piercing green eyes stands in the doorway with her arms folded across her chest. "Hello, Maddison," Addison says unenthusiastic, almost disappointed.

"You're not happy to see me?"

"We are surprised to see you," Allison replies.

Derek walks in to the office reading a chart, not paying attention to where he is going or what he is doing. "Allison I really think we need to talk about…" Before he can say anything he walks into Addison and looks up. He scans the room with his eyes, sees Maddison and quickly turns around and starts to leave the room.

"It's just like you to walk away, Derek," Maddison snarls.

Derek snaps back around. "Don't you dare talk to me, you cold bitch." He turns around and leaves once again.

After the surgery Mark and Alex walk into the scrub room. "Very impressive, Dr. Karev."

"Thanks, so let me ask you this, what is it about this chick that has you and every other man in this hospital falling head over heels in love with her?"

Mark sighs, "I wish I knew, it's so hard to explain. It all starts with her eyes, if you look into her eyes long enough you get sucked in and then you're done for. There is no stopping it. That's why the feelings come back. She is the queen of eye contact, I think she knows." Alex just looks at him. "Don't look at me like I am crazy, just try it and you'll see what I am talking about."

"No thanks, I'll take your word for it, I like where my relationship is."

"She really is the one for me."

"Then what are you doing with her sister?"

The interns are all suturing in silence when Alex walks in, "I love plastics!"

"No one cares," Cristina says.

"You're just mad that I got to scrub in and you didn't."

"You're damn right I am, I will find out why you have Sloan in your back pocket, just you wait."

"It's a guy thing."

"Don't make me gag, you are barely allowed to call yourself a guy."

Alex looks to Izzie, "You're going to let her talk to me that way?"

"You're on your own with Cristina, you know that."

Alex takes a seat at the patient that is next to George. Before he gets started he looks to George as if he wants to say something then quickly turns back around. A few seconds later he turns back around. "Do you need something, Alex?"

"I've been wondering something but I don't think it's appropriate to ask."

"Just ask."

Alex lowers his voice so no one else can hear him, "What was it about Allison that first drew you in?"

"Her eyes. She looked up at me and that was it, I was hooked. I saw her from across the room and it made me want to see her up close but as soon as I got there I could not stop staring into her eyes. What about you with Izzie?"

"The way she wouldn't take any of my crap no matter how much of an ass I was. I love a strong woman like that."

"You would get along with Allison."

"I just got in good with Sloan, no way am I messing that up. The last thing I need is for him to think I'm trying to get in her pants. I wouldn't even risk it. Plus, the way these chicks feel about her that's enough for me to stay away. Have you tried talking to her?"

"No, we weren't right for each other."

"Are they actually talking?" Cristina asks.

"It looks like they're having a real conversation," Meredith replies.

"I think I am pregnant," Izzie says. Cristina and Meredith quickly look over at Izzie, both of them shocked at what had just come out of her mouth.

Derek is in the elevator when the doors open and Addison walks in. "You escaped," he says with raised eyebrows.

"She didn't come here for me."

"And you left her alone with Ally?"

"I had no choice, I have patients to see."

"Are you sure she isn't going to try to smother her again?" Derek says half joking.

Addison laughs, "That was years ago."

"Nothing is impossible when you're talking about the sanity of that twin of yours."

"What could she possibly want?"

"I have an idea." She looks to him for the answer. "Her business." The elevator doors open. Addison walks out and turns around to say something to Derek but the doors have already closed.

"I hope you're wrong."

Mark is walking towards Allison's office. The door is closed, which he finds odd because the door is always open. He slowly approaches and peaks in the window. As soon as he sees Maddison he ducks. Addison walks over to Mark who is now walking away from the door, "Don't go in there, satan is here."

"I know she's here." Addison goes to grab the door knob, Mark pulls her hand away.

"Are you crazy? Don't go in there."

At this point the interns have gathered at the nurse's station to see what's going on. The commotion between Addison and Mark has got them intrigued. Just as Mark and Addison start to walk away Allison's door opens and Maddison walks out. Still facing Allison in the office Maddison says, "I will be back later for your answer, I will not be staying here long." She turns around to see Mark and Addison. "Hello, Bastard."

"Hello, Satan," Mark retorts.

The interns do a double take as now there what looks like two Addison's standing in the hospital. "Holy crap," Cristina yelps.

"Are there two of them or have I totally lost my mind?" Meredith asks.

"No, I see two too. What is going on here?" Izzie chimes in.

"Twins, nice," Alex says with a smile. Izzie hits him in the arm.

"How much more of them can there be?" Meredith whines.

"Quick, check to see if she's pregnant."

"Cristina!" Meredith yells.

"That must be Maddison, Addison's twin sister. No one likes her. Apparently she's the evil one," George explains.

"She's the evil one?" Meredith asks in shock, "You mean there is worse than Addison?"

"What the hell is up with their family and naming all the kids alike anyway?" Cristina asks.

"New York is the best city in the world yet they all come to Seattle to ruin my life," Meredith says.

"Calm down, we don't even know why she's here."

"Well it would be my luck."

Maddison walks passed them and they all try to look busy by picking up any paper that is lying around to pretend to read. As soon as she's out of sight they put the papers down. "Well now that the excitement is over, I am going to find myself a surgery." Cristina walks off and they all follow.

All of their beepers go off and they all look down at them, they pick up their pace of walking to almost a jog. "9-1-1 to the pit?" They all shake their heads yes.

Bailey is waiting there for them, "We have a multi car wreck from the race track so we have about 6 guys coming in with serious injuries and 4 others who will need to be stitched up. I'm going to need everyone for this one. I have paged Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Torres to come down here because we will need them." They all look up to the TV that is mounted in the corner of the room and the news is showing the wreck over and over again.

Later on in the day Maddison walks into Allison's office and sits down, "I need you to make your decision."

"I don't know why you have to put me in this position."

"You need this, Ally."

"That business is my life."

"Well now you have another life you need to take care of. Don't think that Mark will let you stay there forever. He will get sick of you just like every body else does…just like he has before."

"It's my only tie back to home."

"No one even misses you."

"Really?"

"They don't even know you're gone. Heck, most of them don't even like you. Just sell me the business and you won't have to worry about New York ever again."

Allison looks up at the skyline poster she has up in her office to remind herself that her heart belongs in New York. She looks down to see her big sister sitting across from her with a check book open ready to write an amount of money that would solve all of her problems. She slouches down in her chair and puts her head in her hands to think. Maddison slips a contract across the desk and right under Allison's nose so she can see it. Allison lifts her head up and has tears coming from her eyes. "I have to do what's right for my son." She grabs the pen as a maniacal smile comes across Maddison's face and Allison signs the contract.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down, baby sister." Allison forces out a smile. Hands Allison the check, picks up her folder of papers and stands up to leave. She stops at the doorway and turns around. "Oh and just so you know everyone knows that Gianni's death was your fault." She turns back around and leaves.

Derek is standing out side of Allison's office when Maddison walks out. He looks inside to see Allison crying. Derek grabs Maddison by the arm to swing her around to face him. "What did say to her?"

"Nothing that should be any of your concern, Derek." He releases her. "Try not to make it look so obvious that you love her, ok, you are so easy to read and your new girlfriend might not like that so much." Derek didn't say anything, there was nothing to say. Maddison somehow always knows the truth or thinks she does and she always finds a way to bring it out of them. It's best to just not say anything because the truth really does hurt. "That's what I thought." She turns away from him and walks out of the hospital.

Derek focuses his attention back to Allison in her office. He leans on the doorway unsure if he should be the one to go and comfort her. It isn't his place but then again as a friend it is. If he doesn't, who will? He takes a step into the office and Allison looks up at him with her tear streaked face. "It's not my place to ask you what happened but I will offer my shoulder to cry on and my ear to talk into if you want it. Meredith wanted to know if you wanted to go with us to the bar across the street, everyone is going."

Allison wipes the tears away. "I need to get drunk. I will be there. About that other thing you wanted to talk to me about…"

"Some other time."

"Fair enough, I'll see you later, I need to finish up around here."


	25. Chapter 25

The interns are all walking in their regular clothes through the hospital. They're all on their way to Joe's. Before they reach the outside doors Maddison walks in and spots Meredith. She approaches the group but only acknowledges Meredith. "Before I leave I wanted to tell you how great it is that you let your boyfriend spend so much time with another woman and it doesn't bother you. Especially when he looks at her that way."

"What way?" Meredith asks confused.

"Oh don't tell me you haven't noticed, it's clear as crystal." Maddison walks out of the hospital.

"You're not actually going to listen to her, are you?" Cristina asks.

Meredith nervously says, "No of course not."

"Good, now come on, let's go." They all leave.

Everyone is already at the bar when Allison walks in. They turn around to see who it is and then back to the bar. "I don't know why you invited her, Mer," Cristina says.

"She's Derek's friend, we need to get along," Meredith explains. Allison reluctantly walks over to the group and puts on a big smile. Allison takes a quick seat at the end of the group next to George.

"Hello everyone." They all awkwardly wave. She whispers to George, "This just doesn't feel right."

George whispers back, "They're just trying to make you feel welcome, enjoy it."

"I'll try." Derek brings Allison over a drink. "Oh thank god." She gulps her drink down.

"Another one?"

"Of course."

Later on in the night and a lot more drinks later everyone is sitting around the bar and laughing. Meredith stumbles off her stool and pushes George to the side and sits on the stool next to Allison.

Meredith now slurring her words, "I just want you to know that I think your sister is a bitch."

Allison is just as equally drunk and she laughs, "Which one?"

"Does it matter?"

Allison thinks by putting her hand on her chin and almost knocking herself out. "HA! Probably not." Derek brings Allison over another drink. "Oh thank you." She sips on the glass.

Meredith watches Derek the whole time with her eyes as Derek brings Allison a drink and doesn't even ask her if she wants one. A scowl comes over her face. Derek walks away to use the bathroom. Meredith looks to Allison. "So…Allison…how does it feel to have all the men hang all over you all the time? It must feel wonderful."

"Does it really matter who is all over me during the day when at night I am the only one who comes home to an empty bed?"

"I don't know, you have a pretty easy time keeping it filled."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Why do they like you so much?" By this time Meredith and Allison are right in each other's faces just inches apart.

Izzie rushes over to them and grabs Meredith by the arm. "Come on Mer, let's go home." They start to walk towards the door.

Derek walks over to Allison, "Come on, Ally, I'll take you home."

Meredith yells from the doorway, "Of course you will!"

At the Burke house Cristina slips in the door with a big plastic bag in her hands. She quickly darts into the bathroom. Burke is sitting on the couch reading a book, he hears the bathroom door creak close, he looks up from his book, then just smirks and shakes his head. Cristina slowly opens the door with the sound of the creak Burke looks up once more to see what she is up to. She finally walks out into the living room in a full naughty nurse outfit, hat and everything. She seductively walks towards Burke, he raises an eyebrow with some confusion. When she gets to him she grabs the book from his hands and places it on the coffee table. She straddles him.

"Cristina, what are you doing?" Burke asks.

"Are you kidding me?" She stands up. "I did this for you. I went as low as to dress as a nurse A NURSE, and you don't even act the least bit interested. You couldn't even pretend?"

"We work with nurses."

"So? Does that mean you can't fantasize about them?"

"You want me to fantasize about the nurses?"

"I want you to fantasize about me!"

"Nurses don't even wear that."

"That is so not the point. Don't you ever fear that we're becoming one of those couples who become so used to each other that nothing is exciting anymore?"

"I don't think we're boring."

"Seriously? I bet you're more concerned about your place in that book you were reading than the fact that I am begging you to have sex with me and you're just sitting there with a confused look on your face." He doesn't say anything. "That's what I thought." She takes the nurses hat off and throws it at him, he tries to catch it but fumbles with it. "This is the last time I take sex advice from Izzie." She walks into the bedroom and closes the door.

Izzie and Meredith walk into the house. Meredith throws her bag down on the floor inside the door in frustration. Izzie helps her up the stairs. "We don't have to do this tonight, Mer, I can wait until tomorrow morning when you're sober."

"No, we are doing this right now because you need to know." They walk into the bathroom. Izzie empties out the bag onto the sink and pregnancy tests come spilling out.

"It's always good to take it more than once just to be sure."

Meredith opens one of the packages (which has two tests in it) and goes to hand it to Izzie but she drunkenly drops it in the toilet. She giggles. "Sorry, I'll get the other one." She takes the second test out of the package and drops this one in the toilet as well. She puts her hand over her face. "It's a good thing we bought another one."

Izzie grabs the last test out of her hand. "Meredith, let me do it before we don't have any more left. Just place it on the sink and I will pick it up." Meredith slowly places the test on the sink and sits back down on the floor. "I am not peeing with you in here."

"Right." Meredith gets up and stands out in the hallway. While Meredith is waiting out in the hallway George sneaks up the stairs. He tries not to make a sound until he sees Meredith standing there. He smiles and she smiles back. Without a word he slips into his room. Meredith's focus returns to the closed bathroom door. "Are you ok in there?" Izzie is standing by the sink with the test in her hand staring down at it. Meredith knocks from the other side of the door. Izzie looks towards the door, looks back down at the test, back and the door and opens it. "Well?"

Izzie whispers, "I'm pregnant."

Meredith screams, "You're pregnant? Woohoo!"

George stumbles out of his room tripping over his own feet. "You're pregnant?"

As Derek helps Allison through the hallway to Mark's apartment he can't help but wonder what made her so upset. He doesn't want to intrude because Allison is the type of girl who will tell something in her own time. Instead he just looks sympathetically at her as they reach the door. They stop.

"Allison, I…"

"I sold my business to Maddison."

"I thought so."

"I had no choice."

"I'm not judging. About the other night, you know, when we had sex I just wanted to know…"

Allison interrupts, she knows what he is going to say but she just cannot let him say it, "Don't worry, Derek, I won't tell her."

"That isn't what I was going to say."

"I should get going, thanks for driving me here. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya." He walks away with his hands in his pockets and his head hanging. She watches him until he turns the corner and then goes inside.

Mark is already in bed. Allison wipes the tears from her eyes that had formed after Derek left. Each step she takes towards Mark's room she removes another article of clothing. She finally gets to his bed in just her bra and panties. She rips the blanket off of him. "What are you doing?" Mark asks.

"Let's have sex." She jumps into the bed.

"You are drunk," he says as he pushes her away from him.

"So what if I am? Come on, Mark, let's do it."

"No, Allison, go to bed."

"You of all people should know what I am going through."

"Allison, I love you, you have made your choice and it's obviously not me and I cannot do this anymore. You need to let me try to let go."

Allison starts crying. "I don't know what I want."

"Yes you do, you just don't want to admit it to yourself. I see the way that you look at him and the way that he looks at you. You used to look at me that way. Did you ever think of what it's doing to me?"

"Don't you dare make this about you. I was ready to get married and you fell in love with my sister and now you sit here and tell me you love me, you have some nerve. You don't know what you want as much as I don't so get off your high horse and just think about what you have done to me for just one second of your life." Allison storms out of the room and slams the door behind her. She gets into bed and cries herself to sleep.

In the morning Allison wakes up grabbing her head. Hangovers are a bitch. She puts on some scrub pants and heads into Mark's room where Josh is waiting patiently for her to come feed him. She picks him up as quietly as possible so she doesn't wake Mark. She goes to leave the room until she is stopped. "Stay here."

"Oh I thought you were sleeping."

"I was but just stay here anyway." He pats his hand on the spot on the bed next to him. Allison hands him Josh so she can crawl onto the bed and she sits down, he hands Josh back to her. She begins breast feeding.

"Listen, about last night, I am sorry."

"I am too." He jokes. "I should've slept with you." Allison laughs.

She puts her hand to her head. "Ouch don't make me laugh. What the hell happened to us, Mark?"

"We have issues, we're like fire and ice together. We need people to ground us. For a while we were that person for each other but it's just not going to last forever."

"And now we need to let go."

"Yes we do, but we will always be there for each other and our son. I am going to new daddy classes."

"You're kidding." She pretends she doesn't know, she knew Mark didn't want anyone to know.

"I wish I was."

"Is it helping?"

"I think so."

Josh stops feeding. "Come on, I'll make you some breakfast."

Izzie and George are in the kitchen, each nursing their coffee mugs. "I love who ever invented coffee," Izzie says.

"I hate who ever invented alcohol."

"So I heard you were sneaking in last night."

"Sneaking? I didn't sneak."

Meredith walks in, "You snuck, you had the look of a sneaker inner and when you saw me you looked like a deer caught in headlights."

"I um thought you were all sleeping, I didn't want to wake you."

Meredith and Izzie just look at each other and smile. "Ok, George, whatever you say."

Cristina comes storming into the house. She walks into the kitchen and grabs a piece of toast from the table. She points to Izzie. "You! Your stupid nurse idea didn't work. I think it actually did the opposite."

"Well hello and good morning to you too."

"Don't give me that good morning crap, I haven't had sex in weeks and you're glowing like you just got some 5 minutes ago."

"That's a different kind of glow," Meredith says.

"Ok you've lost me."

"Go on, Iz, tell her."

"Tell me what? What's going on?"

"I'm pregnant."

"Are you trying to ruin your career? First you send Denny to the white light, now you're having a baby? Seriously, why did you even bother with medical school?" Izzie just looks at her angrily. She crosses her arms across her chest. Meredith and George are horrified. "Look you want to play house with Karev, yippee for you. I have real problems. Sex problems!"

"I know in your weird language that means congratulations so thank you."

"Yeah whatever, listen, your little nurse suggestion did not work. I haven't had sex in 3 weeks, 3 weeks and I need some…badly."

"Ok, I seriously didn't need to know that," George says.

Cristina turns to George, "You shut up, you are glowing too and I highly doubt it's because you're pregnant."

"You're having sex? With who?" Meredith asks.

George changes the subject, "Um Izzie got pregnant and hasn't told Alex yet!"

"Focus back here on me now, people, what do I do?" Cristina says.

Derek walks into the kitchen and grabs an apple. He takes a bite out of it and speaks as he's chewing, "Sleep with someone else." No one says a thing.

In the intern locker room no one is saying anything. They are quietly getting changed and every once in a while exchange glances with one another. "He was probably trying to make a joke," Izzie says trying to break the silence. They all look at her with wide eyes as if they were saying "shut up" she mouths, "what?" back to them.

Cristina nervously laughs, "Yeah you know McDreamy, he's not a very funny guy although he tries to be."

"It's ok guys, you don't have to try to make me feel better. I'm fine." They all just keep looking at her. "Will you stop? George is sleeping with some mystery woman, go bother him." Quickly leaves the room. Soon after everyone else spills into the hallway. Dr. Bailey is not too far behind them.

"Ok, people, its already looking to be a busy day so let's get started. Grey, you're with Sloan. Yang, you're with Shepherd. O'Malley, you're with Dr. Montgomery. Stevens you're running labs Karev, you're in the pit."

Turns to Meredith and Cristina, "Whose turn is it to do labs?"

Cristina rolls her eyes, "Mine."

"Fine, Stevens, you're with Shepherd. Let's get moving people." Bailey says mumbling to herself, "Like I have time for you and your games, unbelievable."

Meredith walks over to Mark who is reading a patient's chart, "I am stuck with you today."

"Stuck? Come on, you enjoy working with me."

"I do not."

"Looks like you had a rough morning, I had a rough night. Let's talk about it in an on call room."

"Back to your old ways, I see. What's the matter? Allison refusing to be the slut that she is?" Meredith says harshly.

"I don't think it's going to work out between me and Addison."

"That's a shame, I thought things were going well."

"I think I need some time to myself for right now."

"Mark Sloan? Time to himself? Something isn't right here."

"No it's not."

"Well are you going to tell me?"

"No, I'm not."

Izzie walks into a CT room where Derek is waiting for her, "Dr. Shepherd."

"Dr. Stevens, I heard the good news congratulations."

"Thanks," she says coldly.

"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"

"What makes you say that?"

"It's just that you are always the happy one. Now of all times I thought you would be off the walls but you're acting cold towards me."

"I am just trying to figure out why you would suggest to anyone to sleep with someone else especially since what happened last night at the bar."

"Hm, I was trying to be funny, "Derek says matter-of-factly.

"Well it wasn't."

"Now I know for the next time." Derek starts to get nervous so he needs to change the subject, "So did you tell Karev yet?"

"I haven't gotten the chance to."

"Just don't let him hear from somebody else, that would be the worst."

Addison and George are in the elevator together on their way to a consult. Both are looking straight ahead and up at the numbers going down each floor. "Do you think they suspect anything?" she asks.

"They don't know who but they definitely know something is up."

"You didn't say anything, did you?"

"No of course not."

"We'll just have to be more careful."

"I don't know how much more careful I can be, those girls are insane. I am telling you, I wasn't even glowing. I was tired." The doors open and a group of nurses step in. "Are you going to tell him he's dying?"

"When the time is right." The doors open on the next floor and they step off.

Cristina is just about done with her labs when Burke walks over to her sitting at a desk. He walks up behind her and bends down so his head is right next to hers. "I have a surgery that I think you would enjoy. Would you like to join me?"

"Is this your way of trying to get back on my good side?"

"Yes."

"Well it worked, count me in." She drops her last lab off and follows Burke onto an elevator.

Richard walks into Allison's office and sits down. "It's quiet today."

"Yes it is. I suppose that's a good thing."

"It's nice to be able to relax once in a while."

"I wish I knew that that feels like, I've been so on edge lately."

"Have you found a place to live yet?"

"No."

"Have you even started looking?" Allison shakes her head no. "Please take the day off and do yourself a favor and just relax. Go and get things done that you need to get done or just sleep all day, I don't care, but this place is not what you need right now."

"Ok. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He stands up and walks back to his office.

Allison stands up and starts to gather her things. She puts her jacket and hat on. She sees the check from Maddison still lying on the table where it has been placed the day before. She picks it up and just stares at it. Derek and Izzie walk passed the office and he peaks in to see her with her jacket on and gets concerned, they stop and walk towards the doorway.

"We are you going?" Derek asks.

"To have some time to myself. To gather my thoughts. To look at some houses. I have this big check, you know, and I don't even want it."

"Cash the check, it'll make you feel better."

"Thanks, Dr. Stevens, it just doesn't feel right."

"It won't for a while but in the end it'll be worth it, trust me."

"I appreciate it." Derek and Izzie go on their way and Allison locks up her office and leaves the hospital.

Meredith and Mark are walking out of a patient's room. "That was amazing," she says looking up at him.

"I know."

"I would never see you as the type of guy to talk someone out of larger breasts."

"I know I may seem irresponsible, but I am very good at what I do. Most woman who lost their breast to cancer want to get huge ones to make up for what they lost without even thinking about the consequences, it is part of my job to help them think rationally and to realize what is best for them."

"Then I do have you pegged all wrong."

"Yes you do."

Izzie finds Alex in the pit, "I've been trying to meet up with you all day. I don't have much time but I need to talk to you about something."

Derek walks over to them, "Come on, Dr. Stevens, we have a surgery. I'll meet you at the elevator." Derek walks away.

"What is it, Iz?"

"What's with you?"

"While you've been following Dr. McDreamboat around all day and cutting people's heads open I've been stuck in the pit twiddling my thumbs." Derek call's Izzie's name from the elevator.

"Can we talk after our shift?"

"I have some place I have to be, can't it wait until tomorrow?"

Izzie sounds frustrated but defeated, "I guess it will have to." She turns around and joins Derek in the elevator. On the elevator it's just Derek and Izzie.

"So how is it going trying to tell Karev the big news?"

"It's not for right now. I can't seem to find the right time to bring it up."

In the pit a man comes in on a stretcher with the bone of his shoulder sticking out of the skin. His wife is screaming at him and he is screaming back at her. A crowd of doctors rush over to the commotion. A woman is screaming at the top of her lungs, "Maybe if you weren't so stupid you wouldn't be in this situation."

"You threw a TV out the window, Karen. That is why I am in this situation," the man yells back at her.

By this time Alex is standing next to the gurney as the rest of the attendings and interns look on. "Hi, I'm Dr. Karev, I am almost afraid to ask but can you tell me how this happened?"

"Bonehead here slept with my best friend, that's how this happened," the woman explains.

"She was throwing all my stuff out the window…on the second floor, and she threw my beautiful 42 inch plasma TV out and it hit me. This is all her fault," the man says.

"Maybe if you weren't such a man whore we would be on our way to Aruba right now instead of in the emergency room!" she yells.

Derek and Mark exchange glances and look back at the patient. Callie walks over with her eyes open wide, "We need to get you into surgery right away, Dr. Karev will be assisting me."

"I hope you die on the table," the woman says.

"Then it would be murder, Karen!"

"And it would be well worth it."

Bailey steps in, "Please ma'am if you could just come with me we can fill out the paper work and you could have a seat and wait for him to get out."

"I hope to never see him again."

"Well that's fine but you still have to fill out the paperwork." The wife and Bailey walk over to some seats and sit down as Alex and Callie wheel the patient away.

Derek walks over to Mark, "What was that look for?"

"The same reason you gave it to me."

Derek sighs, "She told you."

Mark nods, "She did."

"Listen, Mark, I…"

"You owe me no apology, I don't want to hear it. You've won the girl yet again, Derek, must be great to be you." Mark storms off.

In the locker room everyone but George seems to be in a crappy mood. Alex rushes in and out of the locker room without saying anything. Izzie glares at him as he leaves the room and slams the door to her locker. "Come on, Mer, we're going to follow him." She grabs Meredith by the arm and they leave the room. They follow him through the last set of doors and into a room full of men. Alex steps to the front of the room and as he turns around to face the class Meredith and Izzie hide behind the doorway.

"What is this?" Meredith asks.

"It looks like a man convention of some sort."

"Shh, let's see what he says."

Alex begins talking, "Sorry I am late everyone, I had a close call in surgery. A word to the wise, do not sleep with your wife's best friend. It's not worth it to have a perfectly good plasma TV tear up your insides." All the father's just look at each other and back at Alex. "Not much for humor, I see, ok I'll get started."

A man walks passed Meredith and Izzie to enter the class. They get his attention to stop him. He stops and turns around to go back to where they were. "We just have a quick question. What's going on here?" Izzie asks.

"It's a help class for new fathers," he explains.

Izzie trying to hold in her laughter can barely squeak out a word, "Oh." Is tall she could say. Meredith puts her hands over her mouth as they silently laugh. The man just turns around and takes a seat in the class.

"I have got to see this." They peak back into the room. They both scan the room as they can barely contain themselves. "Oh my god, it's McSteamy." Izzie quickly looks and spots him too.

"Holy crap, it is McSteamy. This is just too good. I don't think I can take much more of this." Izzie then lets out a huge laugh. Everyone in the room turns to the doorway to see Meredith and Izzie giggling.

"Izzie? What are you doing here?" Alex says, almost annoyed that his class was interrupted.

"This probably isn't the best time."

"Just spit it out, please."

"I'm pregnant, Alex." All the guys in the class start clapping.

"Will you excuse me for one second?" He walks over to Izzie, "Are you serious?"

"I confirmed it with Addison today. Look I can see that you're busy, we will talk about this later."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this."

"I understand."

Meanwhile Mark is working on his baby holding technique with the baby doll. Meredith is standing at the back of the room watching him. She cannot help but admire his determination. She doesn't notice she is staring at him until Mark looks up and sees her. She quickly turns her head away only to slowly turn it back around. She locks eyes with Mark and they get lost in each other's stare.

"Meredith did you hear me?" Izzie says in a loud voice.

"What? I'm sorry, what?"

"We can go home now."

"Oh right of course." She smiles. They turn around and leave the room. As they get outside the door Meredith turns her head back around to see if Mark is still looking at her. He is, he has his eyes fixated on her. He smiles and waves, she returns the smile and waves back. They leave.


	26. Chapter 26

Derek is sleeping and is awoken suddenly by the ringing of his cell phone. He reaches to the pillow next to him where the phone is lying. He opens it up to answer. "Hello?...At the trailer…Yeah sorry I had a late night….Ok bye."

Meredith hangs up her phone. She is sitting in the kitchen with George and Izzie. "He's at the trailer."

"Again?" Izzie asks.

"Long night."

"Again," George says

"Yes again!" she snaps then pauses, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't take this out on you guys."

"We understand, Meredith. What do you think is going on?" Izzie asks

"I don't know." But secretly she does have an idea. She sees the way he looks at her and the way she looks at him. She just refuses to ignore it.

At Mark's place Mark is grabbing a box and carrying it down to Allison's car. He puts the box in the back seat next to the car seat. "Well that's everything."

Allison laughs, "It was only two boxes."

"I know, but it's kind of what you say." He looks into her eyes. "Does it really have to be this way?"

"It does, you were right about us being a mess together."

"What about Derek? Was I right about that too?" He can't help but ask, he needs to know for his own sanity.

"The jury's still out on that one." She is lying and he can see right through her.

"So that's why you're his new neighbor."

"I was given a great deal, it was the cheapest."

"Keep telling yourself that, Ally."

"I think I will," she jokes.

"Oh very mature," he teases. Allison sticks her tongue out at him and he laughs.  
At the hospital the interns are in the locker room getting changed into their scrubs. Izzie is bending over a toilet puking. She stands up and walks over to her locker. "I am going to kill him, it's his fault I am puking my brains out."

"Who?"

Izzie grabs George by the collar with both hands and yells, "Alex and his demon seed."

"Alright alright, sorry I asked."

Alex walks into the locker room, "I heard my name, I hope it's all good things."

Izzie looks up and sees him. She lets go of George's shirt and walks over to Alex. "You! You are the reason I am like this!"

"Izzie, you said you wanted a baby."

"I was drunk!"

Cristina whispers to Meredith, "I hope she's not going to be like this for all nine months."

Meredith whispers back, "I think it's just a morning sickness thing, she was really happy last night."

"What's up with you and McDreamy? You two haven't been disgusting lately."

"He's just been really busy, he promised he'd be by tonight to cook dinner."

They all walk into the hallway to wait for Bailey. "How's daddy class, Evil Spawn?" Cristina teases, she can't help herself.

"Laugh all you want, Yang, I get paid to teach the class." The smile quickly wipes away from Cristina's face.  
Bailey walks over to them. "Dr. Bailey, can I request to be on Dr. Sloan's service today? I want to be able to follow up on a patient we had yesterday," Meredith says, the rest of the interns look at her stunned.

"Very well, Dr. Grey. Does anyone else have any special requests before I get started?" Nobody says anything. "Good, the rest of you to the pit." They all groan. They all walk away but Meredith, she had dropped her pager and was picking it up off the floor.

"Don't worry, it didn't break."

"Dr. Grey, are you sure you want to work with Dr. Sloan? I don't mean to pry but he does have a reputation of, well, quite frankly treating interns like doo doo."

"Thank you for your concern, Dr. Bailey, but I know what I am doing." She turns and walks away. As Meredith is turning the corner she is stopped and startled.

"Do you really know what you're doing?" Alex asks.

"Don't scare me like that." She playfully slaps him in the arm. "And what are you trying to say?"

"You know exactly what I am saying. You miss him and now you're trying to do to him what he is doing to you."

"I don't know what you're talking about, everything is fine." She turns to walk away from him.

"You know that word means nothing to me when you say it. We've been through this before."

"I appreciate your concern, Alex, but there is nothing to worry about."

"Whatever, dude, don't say I didn't try to help."  
Meredith walks over to Mark who is just finishing up with a patient's parents. When he's done he sees her waiting for him so he walks over to her. "Are you stalking me, Dr. Grey?"

"We work in the same hospital."

"Dr. Bailey would never send me the same intern three days in a row." He leans in to whisper. "I don't think she's a big fan of mine."

"Not many people are."

"My son is, that's all that matters."

"How cute, please excuse me while I gag," she teases.

"Oh come on, women love a man with a baby. It's a known fact."

"But if that man has a huge ego…not so much."

"With a nickname like McSteamy, I cannot go wrong." Meredith smiles. "But seriously, how's it going with Derek?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I've seen his before, remember, this is what drove Addison away."  
Richard walks into Allison's office and takes a seat in one of the chairs she has in front of her desk. "Let me ask you a question." Allison looks up from her paperwork and focuses her attention on Richard. "What is the title of my position?"

"Chief of Surgery."

"Are you sure it's not high school principal?"

She smiles, "Positive."

"Do you know how much gossip gets spread throughout the hallways of this hospital?"

"I try not to, sir."

"I put a surgical mask on and just walked the halls and I could not believe what I heard. Did you know that Dr. Marcos is gay?"

"So you were spying on them."

"No! Ok yes. This isn't why I came in here. I have made my decision about the new chief of surgery." Allison perks up.  
Alex arrives to the pit where the rest of the interns already have their smocks on ready for an ambulance to come into the bay. Izzie rushes to help him get his on before anyone notices he was late. "She's fine," he says.

"She is not fine."

"She says she's fine and that's the end of it. I am not trying to help anymore."

"We have to help," George says desperately.

"She doesn't want it, George."

"I am going to have a talk with McDreamy," Cristina says.

"I don't think we should get involved."

"If I don't, who will? Meredith is in denial and I cannot sit and watch her be treated like crap…again."

The ambulance pulls up to the bay. The ambulance doors open and there is a baseball player on the stretcher. EMT reads off the patient's information, "Brady Manning, 23, he was pitching and got hit in the head with a line drive. Has been knocked out since." They transfer him onto a gurney and wheel him inside.

"Dude, that guy is on the Mariners," Alex says, trying to curb his excitement.

"He's just a kid."

"Did he say head trauma? He's mine," Cristina says in all seriousness.

"Cristina, don't…"

"I have to." She wheels the patient off as a nurse pages Derek.  
Addison is in an office filling her mug up with coffee. Mark walks in to fill his up too. They smile at each other as Addison walks to the refrigerator to get some milk. "Addison, we need to talk."

"I need to talk to you too."

"I'll go first because I think I know where this is going. Addy, I just don't think this is working out."

"We have just grown apart as a couple."

"And should just remain good friends."

"Exactly, I am glad we agree and that this wasn't messy."

"As do I. Have a good day, Addison."

"You too, Mark." Addison takes her mug and leaves the room.  
Derek and Cristina are in the scrub room scrubbing out after surgery. "Who knew baseballs could do so much damage?"

"Listen, Dr. Shepherd…"

"What no more McDreamy?"

"There has been nothing McDreamy about you lately. You are cold you are distant and she is too blind in love to see what you are doing to her. You will not hurt my friend anymore, she can't handle it. So get your act together and become the Derek who turned dark and twisty Meredith into happy Meredith."

"Dr. Yang, I admire your concern but I am in the running for chief of surgery. I need to focus on that right now and she knows that. I am sure Burke is here at the hospital a lot more often than he used to be too."

"Yeah but at the end of the day I know where Burke is coming back to, me. I don't have to worry about Burke looking at anyone else but me. I don't have to worry about how much time he spends with Satan Jr. I am sorry because you are my boss but she is my friend and I will not sit by as you break her heart again."

"Thank you, Dr. Yang." Derek leaves the scrub room.

Mark walks into Allison's office. "I did it," is the first thing Mark says.

"Did what?"

"We broke it off."

"Oh sorry, how did that go?"

"Very smoothly, a little bit too smoothly if you ask me."

"Don't think too much on it, it's over. So now what are you going to do? Become a man whore again?"

"I am going to focus on my career and our son. I am running for chief, you know."

"Yeah I know. Good luck with that, Mark, seriously."

"Thank you. I'll see you around, Ally." Mark leaves and passes Derek who is on his way in. Derek sits down.

Allison looks up to see him sitting in front of her. "Don't you people know that I have work to do?" she teases. "And don't you have patients to tend to or are you not into that sort of thing anymore?"

"Turning into Richard more and more every day, I see."

"Someone has to keep you people in line while he's busy."

"A girl with power, huh, I like that," he flirtatiously says.

"You know what I like? Doing my job.

"I can take a hint and see I'm not wanted. I came here to offer you tickets to the Mariners game verses the Yankees but I could just go with Mark."

Allison perks up, "Did you say Yankees?"

"That I did. So how about it?"

"I don't think this is fair, you can't bring home into this after I got all smart with you."

"Oh but I can and I did."

Bailey walks in and walks up to Derek, "Can I have a word with you, Dr. Shepherd?"

"Yeah sure." He stands up and they leave her office. "What can I help you with, Dr. Bailey?"

"What the hell is the matter with you?" She smacks him in the arm with a chart.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"There are 50 states in the country. You have crossed over 48 of them and you people are still fighting over the same women. You look at that poor girl like she's a piece of meat and you drool and the drool is dripping onto the floor in front of you. You should be ashamed of yourself to play with a girl's emotions like that. I am talking about both of them. Figure out what you want and go for it. Be a man and make a decision, you can only have one or the other. This game that you're playing will not fly for too much longer. Do you understand me?"

"Yes I do."

"Is that all you have to say for yourself? I was hoping it wasn't true and that what I have been seeing is just two friends acting like two friends do. You have confirmed my fear. You love her, don't you?" Derek doesn't respond, he just walks away.  
Mark and Meredith are in the courtyard eating lunch. "Do you love her?"

"Love who?"

"Allison, do you love her?"

"It doesn't really matter if I do or I don't because she doesn't love me."

"I'll take that as a yes." Meredith is almost hurt by his answer. Could she be falling for Mark?

"She isn't the kind of girl you get over right away."

"I've noticed. So what are you going to do?"

"Live my life. There is nothing else I can do. I have tried everything to show her I have changed."

"And you can just move on like that?"

"I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"I guess not."

"You're going to get through it." Mark can't help but lie, he can't be the one to tell her the awful news. That's better to be left to his ex-best friend.

George is sitting in the gallery watching Burke perform a surgery. The door opens and Addison walks in. He smiles. She sits at the opposite end of the gallery from where George is sitting. He looks over at her and smiles, she smiles back, "It's done."

"What a relief."

"You still scared?"

"A little bit."

"He looks mean and scary but he wouldn't hurt a fly. I wouldn't let him." George smiles again at her. All of a sudden the door flings open, Addison and George quickly center their focus back onto the surgery. Cristina, Alex, and Izzie come into the room and sit down next to George.

"Did I miss anything?" Cristina asks.

"No, he is just getting started."

"So, George, are you ever going to tell us who you've been sleeping with?" Izzie pries.

"It's nobody you know."

"So that's why you're keeping it a secret? Come on spill the beans, O'Malley," Alex chimes in.

After a few seconds of silence George's pager goes off. He quickly looks at it, not before fumbling with it and almost dropping it. "9-1-1, gotta go." He rushes out of there before anyone could say anything else. Addison, slips her cell phone back into her pocket and continues to watch the surgery.  
"I had a talk with Shepherd," Cristina says and she slumps back in her chair.

"How did he take it?" Izzie asks.

"I think he thinks we are blind. He tried to play it off like we don't see what he's been doing. I let him know that it's not going unnoticed and that he better stop."

"Did he give you the McDreamy puppy dog eyes?" Izzie asks.

"He tried. That stuff doesn't work on me. He really should know better."

Addison can't help but comment, "He thinks it works on all the ladies. He has a big head like that." They all smile.

"Does it work on Allison?" Izzie elbows Cristina. "What? It's a valid question."

"I wouldn't know. My sister is a mysterious woman when it comes to the opposite sex. You never can tell where she's going or where she's coming from. She thinks she's in control of her feelings but she isn't."

"Yeah we found that out the hard way when she screwed George over," Izzie says, not really knowing why Addison is acting friendly all of a sudden.

"Yeah well I think they rushed into that relationship. Both people were looking for a replacement for someone who had recently hurt them and they found each other.

"So what brings you into the gallery to watch a heart surgery?" Alex asks, obviously he was wondering the same thing Izzie was.

"You're a nosey one, aren't you?" Addison snips back.

"Well I…"

"I came here to get some quiet," Addison lies, it was a good lie. They don't suspect a thing.

"We were just leaving anyway." Izzie grabs Alex by the arm and they walk out, Cristina follows. They get onto the elevator. "Something doesn't feel right here."

"No it doesn't."

Addison walks into Allison's office and shuts the door. "Are you trying to cause trouble?"

Allison looks up from her computer, "What are you talking about?"

"Everyone in the hospital is talking about you and Derek. I thought you were going to cool it."

Allison panics, "They are? How did they find out?"

Now Addison is confused, "Find out what? I am just talking about you drooling all over each other."

"Oh yeah that's what I meant too."

"Allison, what did you do?" Addison becomes increasingly worried at the reality that has begun to set in.

"I slept with him, Addy."

"With who, Allison?"

"With Derek, I slept with Derek. It happened a few weeks ago when I was picking up my clothes from the trailer. I took a shower and he came up behind me and it just happened from there. It was only the one time and only Mark knows about it," Allison says as she puts her head in her hands.

"What were you thinking? What is wrong with you? You are unbelievable, you know that. So what are you going to do now?"

"I am not going to do anything. It was a one time thing."

"Don't lie to me."

"What do you want me to say, Addy? I love him, ok. Are you happy? I've said it. It doesn't matter because I won't mess up what he has with Meredith. He has been trying to tell me and I have been pushing him away because I am not that person but if he has anything for me, that is not my fault."

"Why are you so perfect?"

"Why does everyone keep thinking I am? I am far from perfect. I am the one the men go to when they are in pain. They come to me when they want to forget. That is not perfect, it's messed up. I would give anything to be this perfect person that everyone makes me out to be but I am not and I never will be."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, I'm a big girl. I can handle it." Allison keeps thinking that if she continues to lie to herself that this will all blow over and her feelings will disappear. Things in life are not that easy.

"How did we get here?"

"I wish I knew."  
Cristina, Izzie, and Alex are sitting in the courtyard eating. George walks over and sits down, "Have you seen Meredith yet?"

"We aren't speaking to you until you tell us your dirty little secret," Cristina says.

"That is unfair, you all have kept secrets at one point," George whines.

Meredith sits down. "Who is keeping secrets?"

"George wont tell us who he's sleeping with," Izzie says as she puts her sandwich down, she can't even look at food right now.

"Maybe some secrets are better left unsaid." Meredith says. They all stop eating and look at her. "What?"

"Where did that come from?" Cristina asks.

"All I'm saying is that we all have secrets we'd rather keep to ourselves and there is nothing wrong with that," Meredith tries to make up for her stupid mistake of opening her mouth.

"You have something juicy to tell us," Cristina says with a smile.

"Me? Oh no no, I don't have anything." Meredith is now getting more and more nervous that she will be exposed.

"Yes you do, I can tell. I am your person, I see everything."

Meredith desperately scans her brain for something to divert the attention on someone else. "George is sleeping with someone!" she blurts out.

"Don't try to change the subject. George sucks at keeping secrets, he'll mess up one of these days. You on the other hand…"

"Hey!" George says.

"It's true, George." They all look at her. She starts to stir in her chair. "I mean, everyone goes through their McSteamy phase, don't they?" Izzie almost chokes on her sandwich that she tried to eat one more time.

"Wait, you like Sloan? Wait why do I care? I have been hanging out with you chicks too much when I actually care about the stupid gossip. I have to find some men to hang out with," Alex says.

"I am a man," George says as he sits up straight.

"Please, O'Malley, don't make me laugh. I am trying to eat" Alex says as he laughs.

"You're not going to eat, Mer?" Crisitna asks noticing that Meredith had just been nursing a cup of coffee the whole time.

"Mark and I already had lunch," she mumbles, hoping no one will hear her.

Cristina smiles bigger, "And the hits just keep on coming. I love this place. Surgery and drama, can't get any better than this."


	27. Chapter 27

A little later in the day Meredith is in a patient's room when Derek walks in. She looks up to see who had walks in and she smiles. "I'll wait," he says.

Meredith turns back around to the patient, "…and Dr. Sloan will be in here in a few minutes to discuss your options in more detail. Page a nurse if you need anything." Meredith turns around and they walk out into the hallway. "Don't tell me you're canceling on me."

A little hurt at the accusation even though he knows he deserved it. "No, why would you think that?"

"That's just the way it's been lately, Derek, that is why we are having this dinner in the first place."

He knows he has messed up, it just hurts so much more when she says it out loud. He is hoping this dinner will change everything, he will get Allison out of his head and he and Meredith will live happily ever after. "I will be there and I will be bringing the steaks, I promise you."

"I wish you wouldn't promise."

"Too bad." He gives her a light kiss on the lips and walks away. Meredith smiles.

Cristina sees Meredith from down the hallway and walks faster to catch up with her. "Meredith, I am so close to resorting to rape and violence if I don't get some sex soon."

"Then don't talk to me about it, I do not want to become an accomplis."

"Aren't you supposed to be my person?" Cristina teases.

"Things are finally getting back to normal with Derek, a jail sentence might get in the way."

"Things are better? I guess my talk with him sunk into his thick skull."

This worries Meredith, sometimes Cristina could be scary, "What did you say to him?"

"I threatened to cut off his balls if he ever hurts you."

Meredith's eyes go wide, "Cristina! You didn't!"

"No I didn't…but I sure as hell wanted to."

"Cristina, I…"

"Save it, you'd do the same for me. Let's just leave it at that."

Izzie and Alex are sitting in the gallery together looking down on a surgery that George is scrubbed in on with Derek. "So what are we going to do, Alex? I am starting to freak out a little bit."

"You can't freak out just yet. We have nine months to freak out."

"You think we should keep the baby?" Izzie asks.

"I think we should keep the baby. We can do this. I know it seems like the easy way out but I know deep down inside you don't want to get rid of this baby."

"You're right, I don't. I just can't handle this right now."

"It's going to be so worth it, Iz. Maybe if we're lucky he will become a football player or something." Alex wouldn't admit it to anyone but the thought of this baby coming excites him to the point where he lies awake at night fantasizing what it will be like when the baby finally gets here.

"Oh no no, I am not having another one of you. One Alex is more than enough."

"You love me and you know it," he teases.

"Just a little bit. I still don't want a boy." They both laugh.

"Are you going to move in with me? You know, when the time comes? You can't live at Meredith's forever."

"We'll have that conversation when it's time, Alex, one thing at a time."

"I'm just saying that if you don't move out I am sure Meredith will kick you out. One night of that baby crying will be enough to send her and George through the roof. Come to think of it, I think I like that idea. I'll move in there!"

"That's way too sitcomish for me."

"It could be Four Doctors and a Baby."

"Cute."

Addison and George are in the NICU. "This is the only place we can have some privacy," Addison says as she checks the doors to make sure no one is lurking outside.

"You should come over tonight. Everyone is going to be out of the house." George had been wanting her to come over for some time, he missed his own bed.

"I really don't think that's going to be a good idea, George."

"It'll be fine," he reassures. "Do you think they're ever going to find out?"

"They always have their ways of knowing everything eventually. For right now I just don't want to tell anybody, I hope you understand."

"I don't care, that's the beauty of no strings attached." He really was enjoying the little arrangement they had. It came to them in a silly little conversation that had one time about not getting any sex in a while and the next thing they knew they couldn't get enough of each other. The only rule standing is that there would be no feelings involved, which was no problem for both party's involed.

"Yes, right, of course. Ok fine, we can go there tonight."

"That was easier than I thought it was going to be. I thought I'd at least have to get down on my knees and beg for a few hours."

"I'm easy today." George blushes and smiles as he looks down at the floor.

Cristina is standing in the "snack room" as they like to call it. The room where they have bought many of their meals. The room with the snack machines, soda machines, and water coolers. She is standing there facing the water cooler but not with a cup or a water bottle in her hand but a dollar bill. She is standing here and staring at the water cooler like she is waiting for something to happen. Alex walks in to get a bag of chips. He looks over at Cristina for a second then to the snack machine and then quickly back at Cristina, "what are you doing, Yang?"

Cristina is broken from her trance by the sound of Alex's voice. "I am getting water, what does it look like?"

"You're staring at the water cooler with a dollar in your hand, I think you're at the wrong machine."

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it. The lack of sex is getting to my brain."

"Obviously," Alex says as he grabs his chips and then walks away. Cristina quickly turns to the soda machine and puts her dollar in.

Mark walks into Allison's office. He is already in his regular clothes. "Hey Ally, I am heading out early so I am going to pick Josh up from the sitters so I can spend some time with him. I'll drop him off later on tonight."

"Ok good, cause I am probably going to be staying late anyway."

"We can make this work."

"I believe we can." She smiles and he walks out. Derek walks in after Mark leaves. "Why hello there Dr. Shepherd."

"Oh just stop with the formalities. I need your help. I am making dinner for Meredith tonight. I'm going to make steak, do women even like steak?"

"You're kidding me, right?" He just looks at her blankly, "You don't even know if she likes steak? What's wrong with you?"

"I must be the worst boyfriend on the planet."

"You must be," she laughs, "Derek, steak will be fine. The reason behind the meal is more important than the meal itself. So I think everything will work out."

"I really am trying to work things out."

"Good, I am glad," Allison tries to push a fake smile out but neither of them are fooled.

"I have everything at the trailer. It's going to be a great night."

"Yes it will."

Addison and George left the hospital early to go to the house so they had no idea that Meredith was on her way home. They're too busy doing what they're doing to even realize that Meredith had walked in the door. She sits down in the living room to wait for Derek.

"Did you hear something?" George asked as he pulls his pants down.

"Stop being paranoid and help me with my bra," Addison demanded as she pulls her shirt off.

Meredith hears moving around above her and wonders what is going on. She starts to walk up the stairs when the front door flies open and Izzie and Alex come walking in. She turns back around to see what's going on. "Is everything ok?" She asks concerned.

"Izzie isn't feeling well so we're just going to stay here for tonight instead of going out to eat." Meredith has a look of panic on her face. Oh no, not during her romantic dinner with Derek, they can't!

"Don't worry, Mer, we brought food to eat. We'll have it up in my room," Izzie reassures.

They go up the stairs and into Izzie's room. They close the door behind them. Addison and George are now stopped in the middle of what they were doing, which is missionary position. George is looking back at the door and holding his hand over Addison's mouth. He whispers in a panic, "I told you I heard something." He lifts his hand off her mouth.

"You said everyone was going to be out for the night."

"They were supposed to be! How was I supposed to know they were going to come home early?"

"Well now what do we do?"

"You'll just have to be quiet," George says with a devilish grin on his face. She smiles and they start to go at it again.

Alex and Izzie are eating in Izzie's room and they keep hearing noises from George's room. "Dude, what is O'Malley doing in there?" Alex asks in total disgust.

"He found himself a sex toy in the form of a mysterious woman, they're probably doing it." Alex shudders from the thought.

"Great, now I've lost my appetite."

Allison is at home making brownies. This is unusual for her because she never really bakes but today she is the best baker in all the land, at least in her head. She starts talking to herself out loud, "This is such a stupid idea. You're cooking and you don't even have furniture delivered yet. What is wrong with you? And now you're talking to yourself, GOD you're such a loser." The timer goes off. She reaches into the oven to get the pan and puts it on the cooling rack.

Derek is in his trailer throwing stuff all over the place looking for something. "I know you're in here somewhere," he yells, "I'm already late so just show yourself so I can get moving!"

"Who are you talking to?" a voice says from behind him. He quickly turns around to see Allison standing in his doorway with a tray of something.

"You scared the crap out of me."

"Well it is my turn, you know."

"Come help me look for my tie, I am late," Derek says as he frantically searches through his cabinets.

"Wait a second, you're going this crazy over a tie? Derek, don't you listen to anything I say? All that matters is the meaning behind the dinner and now you're late. Just go, she won't care what you're wearing only that you have actually shown up."

"I suppose you're right. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I am your new neighbor, I was going to just drop off these brownies for you to snack on when you get back. I wasn't expecting for you to be here." Which was a total lie, she was hoping he'd still be there.

"Wait a second, you moved next door? How come you didn't tell me?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise. I got a really good deal on the property. And unlike yours, mine actually has a house on the land." Derek throws a pillow at her.

Meredith is still sitting in the living room on the couch. She hasn't even moved from the spot she was in at the beginning of the night. She looks over at the clock that now says 2:30am. She looks at her cell phone, no missed calls. Izzie and Alex come down the stairs, Izzie is walking Alex out. They look over to see Meredith still in the living room.

"He never showed up?" Izzie asked, very surprised to see her friend where she had left her hours before.

"No he didn't. I guess I have come to expect it by now."

"I am so sorry, Mer." Izzie and Alex walk outside and a few minutes later Izzie comes back in. "Do you need me to stay up with you? Maybe he just got held up at the hospital."

"No, you go ahead and get some sleep. I'll be fine." Izzie walks up the stairs, goes into the room and closes her door.

George and Addison are now sitting on his bed fully clothed listening to the sounds of the house. They hear Izzie's door close and think they're in the clear. "Ok, that was Izzie's door. She will fall asleep almost instantly and then I can get you out of here. I am sorry this didn't turn out the way we wanted it to."

"You don't have to apologize for anything, I had a great time." They stand up and George slowly turns the door knob to open the door. After he has it fully turned he opens the door as slow as he can without making a sound. They sneak down the hallway and down the stairs.

Meredith hears someone on the stairs and gets up to face the stairs, "Listen, Izzie, I said I'll be…" she now sees a stunned George and Addison standing before her. "Addison?"

"Meredith," Addison says as she turns a nice shade of pink from embarrassment.

"Weren't you supposed to be at the trailer?" George asks.

"No we were supposed to be here but he never showed."

"Listen Meredith, this is just fun between me and George. It's not a relationship," Addison says, "We don't really want people knowing about it right now."

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. Can I ask you a question? When Derek was too busy for you and he was going to be late for something would he call?"

"That was the one thing he was good at."

"That's what I thought."

Allison bends over to pick something up from the floor and Derek stares at her with passion in his eyes. She stands straight up with her back still to him he can't help himself anymore. He cannot deny his feelings for her. He cannot stop himself from throwing his arms around her and gently kissing her neck. She turns around and kisses him hard. He helps her take her jacket off and throws it across the trailer. She fumbles with his belt and finally just rips his pants open and off. He looks at her like she's a maniac but it gets him even hotter. He grabs the sides of her skirt and slowly takes it down to tease her. All the while still kissing, their lips never losing contact. Derek takes his own shirt off and basically throws her down onto the bed. He falls on top of her and slowly slips himself inside her.

Meredith can't stand to watch anymore. With tears rolling down her cheeks she turns around to go back to her car. She trips on a branch and scrapes up her hand. She stands back up and gets into her car and drives off. She doesn't know exactly where she's going but she winds up at Mark's apartment. With tears still flowing she softly knocks on Mark's door. It takes a few minutes but Mark finally opens the door. He is wearing sweatpants and a tank top.

"Meredith, what are you doing here?" Mark says as he rubs his eyes trying to get awake. He sees that she's been crying. "Are you crying? What's wrong? Come inside." They walk in the door and they take a seat on the couch.

"He slept with her…sleeping with her. They're having sex right now. I saw the whole thing," she says as more tears flow. Mark hands her a box of tissues.

"Who?" He didn't need to ask, he knew. He couldn't let her know he knew, though, it would kill her if she found out he knew and didn't tell her.

"Allison and Derek. He was supposed to make me dinner tonight. He promised he'd be there and he never showed up. I went to the trailer to make sure he was ok and I saw everything."

"I am so sorry, Meredith."

"Have sex with me."

"Excuse me?"

"Have sex with me, Mark. We've both wanted this for so long, let's just do it. Let's go crazy."

Mark stands up from the couch getting a little nervous. "I can't, Meredith. It's not right."

"You have been chasing me since you got here and now I want to and you're turning me down. Seriously?" Her voice starts to get louder as she gets more and more frustrated with him.

"You will regret it, I cannot do this to you. I respect you too much to do this to you."

"I want this, I need this, I am asking for this, you can't say no."

"I am saying no. You are welcome to stay here tonight if you'd like but I cannot sleep with you."

"You are unbelievable!" She screams. As she leaves the apartment she slams the door.

Derek opens his eyes in the morning. He feels the spot next to him to see if Allison is still there, she wasn't. He rolls onto his side to see if she left any note or to see maybe if she is somewhere else in trailer, she hasn't left a note and she isn't in the trailer. He punches the bed knowing he had made a terrible mistake in sleeping with Allison. A mistake that felt so right at the same time. He is torn between who he actually loves and who he actually lusts. Yeah sure the sex is great with Allison but is it worth losing he has spent his time in Seattle fighting for? He is lost and unsure.

Allison wakes up on the floor of her soon to be bedroom. She winces in pain and rubs the back of her neck as she sits up. She reminds herself to get a bed as soon as possible. She has no regrets for what had happened the night before. It was in fact her intention for that to happen. She had promised Mark she'd pick up Josh from his house early in the morning so she takes a shower.

Meredith wakes up on the couch. She didn't even have the strength to walk up the stairs by the time she got home in the early hours of the morning. Izzie and George come down stairs to see her in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee and staring blankly into space. "What happened last night?" Izzie reluctantly asks, someone had to ask.

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Iz, it just hurts too much." George and Izzie could both see that whatever Meredith was bothered by that it was nothing to mess with and it would be best to just leave her be. That doesn't mean Cristina had other plans as she whips the front door to the house open she finds her way into the kitchen to where Meredith is sitting and she does the most un-Cristina like thing ever, she gives her friend a hug. Tears rolls down Meredith's cheeks as she hugs back.

Allison gets out of the shower and grabs a towel. She wraps the towel around herself and walks out into the bedroom. Derek is standing in her bedroom. She jumps and shrieks not expecting anyone to be in the house. "What the hell are you doing here and how did you get in?" she yells as she wraps the towel tighter around her body.

"You really should learn how to lock that front door. Any bum off the street can walk in," he says with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"There are no streets! It's the middle of the woods!"

"You have a very empty house. There was no where for me to sit."

"I wasn't expecting you over or I would've had you join me." She starts to put her pants on. He puts his hand on hers to stop him. "No, Derek, I have to pick Josh up from Mark's."

"We can be quick," he says as he runs his fingers through her hair she starts to nuzzle against his hand but snaps out of it quickly and slaps his hand. He pulls it back and rubs it. "Ouch!"

"Stop it! We can't do this anymore." She pulls her pants back up quickly.

"How can you stand there practically naked and not expect me to want to do naughty things to do?"

"I didn't invite you over, you let yourself in. I could call the cops on you, you know."

"But you wouldn't do that would you." At this point he is caressing her breasts as she slowly starts to melt to the touch of his hands. She shakes her head no. He mockingly shakes his head no along with her. She laughs then bites her lower lip and pulls him in for a kiss. It was soft and passionate he pins her against the wall and starts to kiss her harder. She quickly pulls his shirt off and wraps her arms around him. She scrapes her nails down his back as he kisses her collar bone. She grabs his package through his pants, he is rock hard. She can't take it anymore, she unbuckles his belt and lets his pants fall slowly to the ground as she works on taking it out through his boxers. "I knew you couldn't resist," he whispers in her ear as he penetrates her.

"Shut up," is all she manages to get out as she pants and moans with pleasure.

Mark is pacing in his apartment looking down at his watch every couple seconds. He looks down at Josh. "You're mommy is in big trouble when she gets here, little man." Josh smiles. "Well I am glad someone finds this amusing. I am sorry, I shouldn't take it out on you. What am I doing? I'm talking to a freaking baby."

Allison starts to put her clothes back on as Derek does the same. He can't help but notice how beautiful she looks in that moment. He admires her as she pulls her shirt over her head. Thoughts of Meredith rush through his head and he rubs his temples as he would if he had a headache. He is certain there is no man on the earth that is confused as he is in that moment. He looks up from rubbing and she is now standing in front of him looking at him. She speaks, "Listen, Derek, this thing that we're doing it's great. It really is, but it needs to stop. I hate to have to do this but it needs to be done. You need to choose between me and her. It's unfair to her to do this, she doesn't deserve it. I don't need an answer right away, but this will stop until you make a decision." She looks at her watch, "Oh crap, I am late to pick Josh up. Lock the door after you leave, I have to go." She runs out the door leaving Derek to his thoughts in her empty bedroom.

There is a knock on Mark's apartment door. He thinks to himself "finally" and goes to open the door. He opens the door and there she is standing there looking sorry for herself. He doesn't say anything to her and just walks back inside, she follows him. "Mark, I know I am late and I am sorry."

"You should be. I had a surgery this morning! I had a surgery that I had to give to another surgeon because it couldn't be put off any longer. Do you have any idea how bad that makes me look?" As he talks he paces back and forth and cannot even look at her, he tries to keep his voice calm so he doesn't scare Josh, "But you don't even care because you don't care about anyone else's feelings but your own."

"That isn't true."

"Oh it's not? So is that why you continuously sleep with a man who is spoken for?" Allison goes to say something but he doesn't let her speak, "Don't even think about denying it, Allison, she saw you two last night. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"None of this would be happening if you would have just married me like you were supposed to, Mark."

"Don't even blame this on me. This is beyond you and me right now. That was a mistake I made and I regret it but that gives you no right to do what you are doing. Do you know she came here last night begging for sex and I turned her down? Imagine me, Mark Sloan turning down a beautiful woman for sex. You know why? BECAUSE IT WAS WRONG! You don't seem to have those boundaries, you just take what you want."

"I am not the only guilty one here. I try to stay away from him. I try to be the better person and ignore the fact that he looks at me the way he does but I love him, Mark, and I cannot ignore it any longer. He has a choice to make and I am willing to live with any decision he makes, but it is his decision, not mine. He chose to come to my house this morning, he chose to kiss me last night, HE chose. So who is really the wrong one here?"

"You both are and it needs to stop right now. You should never have agreed to stay here."

"If I go home, I am bringing Josh with me."

"I will fight for custody. Don't make me do it, Allison, I make a hell of a lot more money than you will ever see."

"Why is this so important to you anyway?"

"Because I know the pain Derek can cause a woman, I saw it with Addison and now he's doing it to Meredith. She doesn't deserve that, nobody does. And you're doing nothing to stop it so you're just as to blame. Now just leave, I can't even look at you anymore." He walks into his bedroom and slams the door. Allison picks Josh up and leaves the apartment.


	28. Chapter 28

All of the interns are at the hospital early. They are already standing in the hallway with scrubs on, stethoscopes around the necks, and pagers on their hips. All they needed was Bailey. Queue Bailey who is walking down the hall with Derek. The group rolls their eyes, just perfect the last person any of them wanted to see. She is surprised to see all of her interns ready to go. "Good morning, interns, glad to see everyone is finally ready on time for a change. I will get right to the assignments. O'Malley, you're with Shepherd."

George speaks up before she can continue, "Can I have the pit or something, Dr. Bailey?"

"You're requesting the pit?" she asks very confused. George shakes his head yes. "Very well then, Izzie, you are with Dr. Shepherd."

"Um actually Dr. Bailey, can I run labs today instead?" Izzie chimes in.

Bailey looks up at Derek and back at the interns. "What the hell is going on here? Yang, you're with Dr. Shepherd."

"I'd rather be on scut or discharges or in the morgue, Dr. Bailey."

At this point Bailey has had enough, she turns to Derek and looks up at him, "I don't know what you did, but you better fix it." She slaps him in the arm and walks away. The interns don't even look at him as they all walk away in separate directions.

Derek yells down the hall to Meredith, "I'm sorry I missed dinner!" She is already out of sight.

"Is that the proper way you apologize to someone for ruining what was supposed to be the perfect night?" Mark says as he comes up from behind Derek. Derek rolls his eyes to the familiar voice of his ex-best friend. Derek turns around to face him and puts on a fake smile. "Save it, I know what happened last night. Allison told me everything."

"That girl has such a big mouth."

"It's not exactly like she can hide it. I know that after sex look she gets, who do you think invented it? You better stop messing around, Derek, the wrong people are going to find out sooner or later and it's not going to be pretty."

"You're one to talk mister man whore."

Mark can't help but smile at the hypocritical words that had just been spoken. "You've been having a lot more sex than I have lately, Derek, so I would tread lightly with using those words about anyone but yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Do you know something that I don't?" Mark doesn't say another word and he leaves Derek standing alone in the hallway. He yells down the hall for an answer, "What do you know?!" Still nothing as Mark gets onto an elevator, the doors close.

Cristina and Izzie sneak into a supply closet that is right by Richard and Allison's office, the supply closet with all of the office supplies. "What are we going to use?" Izzie says.

"Post it notes, lots and lots of post it notes and sharpies!" Cristina says as she grabs handfuls of packages of post it notes. Izzie shoves sharpie markers in her pockets.

"This skank is going to regret she even came to Seattle," Izzie says with a maniacal smile on her face. They peak their heads out of the closet to make sure no one is coming and they sneak back out of the closet. They rush out and down the hallway. They go into a gallery so they could work on their post it notes without interruption.

George is down in the OR with Addison. Every once in a while they exchange glances. Addison can tell that something is on George's mind and it starts to eat away at her. She wants to ask him what is wrong but not in front of all these people. Not with Izzie and Cristina in the gallery watching their every move. Addison clears her throat and mumbles, "What's on your mind?"

"We shouldn't talk about it here," he mumbles back.

"George, your mind is not on the surgery."

"Dr. Montgomery, you really don't want me to talk about this here."

Cristina and Izzie notice something going on in the OR. "Turn on the audio, something is going on down there," Cristina says. Izzie switches the button so they could hear what's going on.

Addison raises her mumble to a whisper, "Dr. O'Malley!"

George whispers in her ear, "Meredith caught Derek with Allison." Addison's eyes go wide and she just looks at him. "I warned you."

Back up in the gallery Cristina and Izzie are amazed at what they just witnessed. "Did he seriously just tell her?" Cristina says.

"I think he did."

"When the hell did they become so friendly?" Cristina starts to become suspicious of George's behavior. "Do you think?...No, it couldn't be"

"Couldn't be what?"

"Do you think she is his new sex toy?" Cristina curls her lip at the thought of them two together. She can't even believe those thoughts crossed her mind. "Ew forget I said anything, that's disgusting."

"Yeah those two together would never happen." They both look at each other back down at the OR, back at each other. "No, Cristina, no! Let's just drop it and get these post it notes filled out before she comes in."

Derek knows he messed up big time. It may be something he will never be able to repair. That dinner was supposed to be the new beginning. It was to make up for all the times he spent with Allison instead of Meredith. Meredith won't even look at him let alone speak to him. All the other interns just look at him in disgust any time he comes across them. He needs to fix this, he cannot work this way. Who can help him? Who can he turn to? There is no one but her. Derek's thoughts are interrupted by the ding of the elevator and the doors open. There stands Meredith. She reluctantly steps into the elevator and turns her back to him. This time she isn't wanting a flirty smell of her hair, or a make out session in between floors, she just wishes he never existed.

"Meredith I messed up," was all he can say, it was all he could think about, the only words that came to mind. She doesn't say anything back. She continues to look forward as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wants to yell at him. She wants to tell him how much she has hurt him. She wishes she could slap him in the face for what he has done to her because that is what it feels like to her. "Meredith please say something." No not this time Derek Shepherd, you aren't getting a reaction out of Meredith Grey. You aren't getting anything anymore from Meredith Grey. The doors open and Meredith steps off leaving Derek alone once more to his thoughts.

Meredith walks over to her friends who are now at the nurse's station picking up charts to run labs. Cristina walks towards her to meet her half way and walks back with her. "Listen, Mer, I know McDreamy is like pond scum or whatever but I don't know how much longer I can handle discharges and labs."

"You guys don't have to do this for me. I really do appreciate it but I will fight this battle on my own," Meredith says as she picks up a pile of charts, "We are here to learn how to become doctors, we will just have to push the personal stuff aside."

"Do you need me to kick his ass, Mer, because I would," Alex says. There is no joking in his tone.

"That's very sweet of you, Alex, but no I don't want you to beat him up. Let's just get through the day so I can go home and drink tonight."

George gets paged and he walks away from the group. Izzie watches him to make sure he is far enough away so they can't hear him. "So, Mer, is George sleeping with Addison?" Cristina nudges Izzie. "I'm sorry, I can't get it out of my head now."

"What did you hear?" Meredith asked, trying not to give too much away just in case they really don't know anything.

"They've been acting friendly lately. He's always getting paged. It's just unusual."

"I don't know anything," Meredith lies. She has to lie. She promised to keep it a secret until they were ready to tell everyone. And is it really anyone else's business anyway? Everyone else would throw it way out of proportion anyway. Just another intern sleeping with their boss. Meredith sighs, looks at the first chart in her pile of ten, "This is good news, Mr. Alkey finally can go home today."

"Wait, you have a patient with the last name Alkey?" Cristina asks as she grabs the chart, she laughs, "And he has liver cancer? This has to be some cruel joke."

"Cancer normally isn't, Cristina," Meredith says as she grabs the chart back, "He's a nice man, so what if he has an ironic last name? So what if he lied to me time and time again? So what if I caught him in bed with McSkank!" As she says "McSkank" she slams her fist down on the desk.

"Ok Meredith, we need to focus. You're getting two very different things mixed up. I'll go with you so you don't call poor Mr. Alkey a man whore," Cristina says as she puts her arm around Meredith's shoulders and they walk away.

Derek is sitting in his office at his computer when Mark walks in. He closes the door behind him and the sound of the door closes causes Derek to look up from his work. Derek rolls his eyes to see Mark standing there in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest. "You don't deserve her, man," Mark starts off saying, "Just end it and let the poor girl finally move on."

"This has nothing to do with you, Mark. Mind your own business," Derek says as he leans back on his chair and he too crosses his arms across his chest.

"It is very much my business when you continually sleep with the mother of my son. You have no idea how much of my business this has become." Mark doesn't wait for a response he leaves the office and slams the door behind him.

Meredith and Cristina are walking out of Mr. Alkey's room. Meredith thanks Cristina for being there for her and they walk in opposite directions. Just as Cristina is turning around she sees George leave an on call room, she inches closer. Much to her surprise or maybe not so surprise Addison soon follows him. Cristina's mouth goes wide as Addison adjusts her skirt and slinks away trying to be unseen. Cristina rushes off to find Izzie.

"Iz, I saw them. I saw them leave an on call room," she whispers as she makes her way over to Izzie.

"Saw who doing what and why are we whispering?" Izzie whispers back.

"Come on Izzie, I know you're blonde but you can't be that dumb. George and Addison leaving an on call room together. Do the math!!!" Cristina says using her regular tone, "Come on, we have to follow them."

They are following George down the hallways of the hospital. They duck behind food carts and into doorways every time George would turn around or even stop. George walks into a patient's room on the maternity floor so they hide behind a food cart to look into the room. Cristina whispers, "This is it, this is her territory. They've got to make a move soon."

"What are you two doing?" Alex says from behind them. They both are startled and jump back. Izzie pulls Alex behind the cart and puts her hand over his mouth so they're not seen or heard.

"Shut it, Evil Spawn, you're going to ruin it," Cristina says and she looks over a plate of mashed potatoes to make sure George didn't hear anything. Addison comes walking passed them and they duck lower. She walks into the room where George is. "Bingo."

"Excuse me, uh doctors, I need this cart," a man says, obviously he is food services wanting to deliver dinner.

"We need this cart, come back in 5 minutes," Cristina says as she gets a firm grip on the cart.

"I need it now, Dr. Yang."

Izzie steps in, "We will deliver your food for you if you just go away." Alex and Cristina both give Izzie an evil look. The guy finds that to be suitable and walks away.

"Way to go, Iz, now I'll never get a surgery today," Cristina says as their focus goes back on the patient's room. Addison and George walk out together. They stop right in front of the food cart. Izzie, Alex, and Cristina duck even lower down. Addison and George look around to make sure no one is around, they don't see anyone.

"No, George," Addison says, "I have learned my lesson, we are never going to your place again. That was too risky. We are going to my place and that's final." Alex mouths the words "oh my god." Cristina and Izzie mouth back, "I know." Addison continues, "You better be ready for round 5, I am in a frisky mood tonight."

"I'll be ready," George says. Addison and George both walk away leaving the three interns stunned. After Addison and George are both out of site they walk out from behind the food cart.

"Dude, did that just happen?" Alex said still dumbfounded from what he just witnessed.

"It so did. Holy crap." Alex and Cristina start to walk away, "Hey guys, where are you going? We have food to deliver."

"That's all you, big mouth!" Cristina says from down the hallway.

"Alex!" Izzie yells. Alex pretends he can't hear her and looks down at his pager pretending he's getting paged and steps onto the elevator. Izzie grunts in disgust and pushes the cart to start delivering the food.

Allison has Josh with her as she tries to sneak into the hospital undetected. It is her day off since she is having furniture delivered but she feels like she needs to warn Derek about Meredith. Josh isn't making it easy for her not to be seen, he keeps making noises to all the women they come across. "It must be from hanging around Mark too much," Allison thinks to herself. She almost makes it to the elevator when Richard spots her.

"Allison, I told you to stay home today," he screams across the lobby. Allison quickly looks right and then left to make sure none of Meredith's friends are around to hear her name being broadcasted all over the hospital, luckily none of them are in sight. Richard walks over to her and joins her on the elevator.

"Don't worry, I am just stopping by to talk to Derek. I am not even thinking about work, I am thinking about the bed that needs to be delivered today and hoping it's not being delivered as I stand here."

"Good," he says then turns to Josh, "he is getting so big."

"I know, before we know it he'll be womanizing just like this father," Allison jokes and Richard laughs. The elevator doors open and Allison steps off. She is almost home free, she can see Derek's office from where she stands. She can't believe she is going to make it through the whole hospital without being seen. It must be her lucky day. She can even see that Derek is sitting at his desk and nobody is in there with him, things couldn't be more perfect.

Out of nowhere Addison steps in front of Allison. Allison almost walks into her. "Don't even think about it, Ally," Addison says as she puts her hand on Allison's shoulder to stop her.

"Come on, Addison, stop fooling around."

"I am not fooling around. Let him face the consequences of his actions. He deserves what he gets."

"You know?"

"The whole hospital knows, Allison, he's the only one that doesn't know."

"Which is all the more reason I should tell him," she says as she starts to walk forward again. Addison stands in her way once more.

"Allison Crystal Montgomery, don't you dare."

Allison gets furious that Addison had the nerve to use her full name and in public no less. What is it any of Addison's business that she tells Derek anyway? She should butt out of other people's business. "What does it matter to you anyway? Shouldn't you be off in an on call room with some young boy toy?"

Addison panics, "What? How did you know?"

Allison lets out a laugh, "Besides your reaction? The fact that you have a hickey the size of Staten Island on your neck. I mean seriously, Addy, who gets hickeys anymore?" Addison puts her hand to her neck and is embarrassed. "Other side, sweet sister of mine." Addison puts her hand on the other side of her neck and walks away. Allison rolls her eyes and says, "Finally." As soon as she starts walking towards Derek's office again the group of interns gets off the elevator. Allison ducks behind a corner before being seen. They practically park themselves right by Derek's office and it doesn't seem like they're going away any time soon so Allison thinks it's best to just go back home and wait for the rest of her furniture.

She hadn't done it in quite a while, have to go to Joe's that is. Meredith sits by herself at the bar already with several shot glasses in front of her on the bar. "Keep 'em coming, Joe," she manages to say, already slurring her words. He wants to tell her she's had enough but he wouldn't dare. He made that mistake once and almost wound up wearing the whole bottle of tequila. For nobody else but Meredith would he hand over a whole bottle but she looked like she needed it, so he did. Joe regrets his decision reminding himself that he needs to be stronger than that, especially for her.

Meredith hoped that the bottle in front of her will solve all of her problems. She wishes it will make her forget forever the pain she felt at that moment, the moment she looked into his trailer and saw what she saw. She can't bare the mental image of it, she takes another swig of the bottle. No need for shot glasses when you have the whole bottle to yourself, she thinks to herself. She feels a presence next to her as she finishes the rest of the bottle in one more gulp. Meredith looks to the bar stool next to her to see Mark sitting down and ordering just a water. This water isn't for him but for her, for Meredith. He worries about her.

"Meredith, drink this water and then I am going to take you home," he says as he pushes the glass in front of her. She smiles at him as she does as he says and sips on the straw.

"How long did you know about them?" she asks as she puts her hand on his arm to steady herself. He holds his arms out as she stumbles forward into him. She looks up at him and into his eyes and he looks down into hers. They stand there and gaze into each other's eyes for a moment until they are broken out of it by Joe clearing his throat.

"Not long, I only knew her side of it and she didn't tell me much." Which was a lie, he knew everything and every detail of when they would sneak off together. He didn't have the heart to damage her further, he feels it is better to just not tell her. He links his arm with hers as he helps her out of the bar and into his car. The car ride is silent. Mark is focused on the road and Meredith is staring out the window into the rain. Mark pulls up to her house and helps her to the door. She opens the door and begins to walk in and he stops.

"Why don't you come in?" she asks as she takes off her jacket and throws it onto the floor, missing the coat rack all together.

"I shouldn't, Meredith." He wanted to so badly but for once he wanted to come out the better person. He didn't want to take advantage, he didn't want to betray his friend, she deserved better than that and frankly so does he. He doesn't want to always be that guy that the women turn to when their boyfriend messes up, he wants to be the boyfriend for once. Despite Mark's refusal, Meredith grabs his hand and pulls him inside. He stands in the door way and looks around with his eyes. "Nice place, I should get going."

"Let's go upstairs to my room." She is ruthless, no matter how much he rejects her she will get what she wants this time. She owes it to herself to do this thing she has wanted to do for so long now. She begins to walk up the stairs and stops a few steps up and waits for Mark to follow, he does. They walk into the bedroom and Meredith kicks off her shoes. She walks into the bathroom to change into something more fitting for the occasion, which isn't much.

"This doesn't feel right." Who is he trying to kid? There has nothing in his whole life that has felt more right than this moment. He slowly closes the bedroom door behind him. He isn't sure what he should do so he continues to stand right by the door and waits for her return back into the bedroom. She appears in just her bra and panties and sits down on the bed. Mark doesn't budge from where he is standing.

"You have been chasing me ever since you got here. All you do is say sexual innuendos when we talk. You're always undressing me with your eyes. I am here right now half naked practically begging you to have your way with me and all you can do is stand there with your mouth open, you are something else Mark Sloan," she says as she stands up and starts to walk towards him, by the time she is finished talking she is right in front of him and has her body pushed up against his. He puts his hands up to caress her arms, but he thinks twice about it and puts them back down at his side. "Come on do it, you know you want to." Now she's taunting him, teasing him as she gently cups his package with her hand and she can feel that he is already hard. He can't stand it any longer, he cups both hands on her ass as he lifts her off the ground. He kisses her hard as he props her up against the wall. One hand is still holding her up as his other hand rips his shirt off.

Meredith becomes more aroused when she sees how strong he is. He slowly lowers her down as he unbuckles his belt with one hand and starts to play with her clit with the other. She wraps her arms around him as his pants slowly fall to the floor. Both of his hands now free to do as he wishes with her. His boxers still on he teases her with his hard cock as he rubs it against her clit. She wants more, she needs more, she can't stand the teasing anymore. She moans with pleasure as she pulls his boxers off. Mark takes one finger and slowly removes her moist panties. She runs her hands all over his body exploring every area. Meredith's hands explore his chest as he once again cups her ass and lifts her up.

This time he places her slowly onto his cock, teasing himself just as much as it's teasing her. She has no control of how fast or slow she thrusts, she tries to sit down harder and he just holds her up. She begins to get frustrated and he just smiles. "You ready?" he whispers into her ear as he kisses her neck. She couldn't answer or make a sound or breathe for that matter before he thrusts hard into her. She let's out a scream that she had never done before. It was pleasure like she had never felt before, she wants more, she needs more, she is getting more as he thrusts harder and deeper into her.

Mark cannot believe how great it feels to finally be inside her. She moves like no other woman has moved. She knows what she's doing when it comes to making a man feel good. He needs more, he craves to be even deeper inside her if that's even possible. He carries her over to the bed and slowly lowers her down as he continues thrusting.

Derek reluctantly pulls up to her house and parks outside. He sees a familiar car parked where he normally parks. He can feel his blood begin to boil already. He needs to know what is going on even though he is pretty sure of what he will find when he walks into the house. Images of that night he came home and Mark and Addison were in bed together keep running through his mind and he slowly opens the front door. He looks to the floor to see Meredith's jacket laying there. He sighs as he makes his way up the stairs. He can already hear her from the hallway, and she isn't crying that's for sure. Derek stands outside Meredith's closed bedroom door working up the courage to walk in and no doubtingly see Mark screwing her. He finally pushes the door open and sees Meredith riding him. "You son of a bitch!" He yells as he makes his way towards the bed. Meredith rolls off Mark and covers up with a blanket. "Don't cover up, it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Derek, you don't deserve her" Mark says as he backs up. Derek doesn't stop walking towards Mark with fury in his eyes. "Don't do anything stupid, ok, we can talk this over."

"Fuck you! Nothing needs to get talked over. You are in bed with my girlfriend. You just can't leave anything of mine alone, can you? You always have to take them all away from me"

"Don't you dare act like the victim here," Meredith screams from the bed, "I saw you with her in your trailer, I SAW, DEREK! You don't even have the decency to tell me to my face that you don't want to be with me, I had to find out that way."

"You saw?" he says as he looks at her with sadness in his eyes.

"I went to see what was taking you so long. We had a dinner planned, remember? I can't even look at you right now, just go." Meredith yells as she points to the door.

Derek turns to leave but turns back around to face Mark, who now has his boxers back on. "I am glad to see you are here once again, Mark, to pick up my leftovers." Derek turns back around to leave. Mark can't hold himself back any longer. How dare he talk to Meredith or Addison that way. He had no right. He is going to pay. Mark rushes over to Derek, spins him around by the arm and punches him in the face. Derek seems unfazed by it as he swings back. Meredith screams for them to stop fighting but they both aren't listening. At this point George has come out of his room and walks into Meredith's room. He sneaks passed the squabble and sits on the bed with Meredith.

"Are you ok, Mer?" George asks as he hands her his robe. She slips it on. Mark and Derek wrestle each other to the ground, each of them exchanging punches. Izzie walks into the room to see what all the commotion is about. Mark pushes Derek off of him, Derek stumbles back and slams right into Izzie. She falls hard through the door and lands face down in the hallway. "You idiots, she's pregnant!" George yells as he rushes to see if Izzie is ok, Meredith follows soon after. George looks up at Meredith, "We have to get her to the hospital."


	29. Chapter 29

Izzie is in an exam room with George and Meredith as tears stream down her face. They are waiting for Alex to get there before they start. Mark and Derek are sitting in the hallway on opposite sides of the door, both of them with their heads hanging low ashamed of what they have done. "What if the baby isn't alright?" Izzie asks as she puts her head in her hands. "Alex is never going to forgive me."

"This isn't your fault, Iz, and you just have to have hope that everything is going to be alright," George says as he sits down on the bed next to her. Alex walks in and rushes over to the bed. Meredith and George both leave them alone as they walk out into the hallway to join Mark and Derek. They close the door behind them and lean up against it.

Alex grabs a tissue from the tissue box and wipes away the tears from Izzie's face. "Everything is going to be alright, Iz, please don't cry. If you worry then the baby will worry and we don't want that do we?" She shakes her head no. Alex pushes Izzie's hair out of her face and kisses her softly on the cheek. "What the hell happened anyway?" Before Izzie can speak Addison walks in with the ultrasound machine.

"So far everything is looking good, Izzie, we're going to just take a look at the baby to see how it's doing," Addison says as she preps Izzie for the ultrasound. Alex grabs Izzie's hand and holds it tightly. He gives the top of her hand a gentle kiss and then looks up at the screen along with Addison. Addison gets a concerned look on her face as she looks more closely at the images on the screen.

Izzie sees Addison's concerned look and starts to panic, "What's wrong? What's wrong with the baby?"

Addison looks to Izzie and Alex, "Babies." Izzie and Alex both look at each other and back at Addison. "That's right, I said babies." Addison swings the screen around so Alex and Izzie could get a better look. "Three to be exact."

"Are you trying to tell me I am carrying triplets?" Izzie asks, she is actually surprised she got that much out. She actually starts to get angry, "Don't lie to me, Addison, because this is not funny." Addison laughs and points to each baby at a time and Alex counts along as each baby is pointed out.

"I knew my swimmers were strong, I just didn't think they were warriors," Alex says still in shock. Izzie and Addison both look at him in disgust, but they really wouldn't expect anything different from Alex. "So triplets, huh? I think I am going to be sick." Alex faints onto the bed right next to Izzie.

Addison laughs and leaves the room. The group in the hallway all look to Addison for the news. "She's going to be ok, the babies are going to be ok," Addison says and then quickly walks away.

George turns to Meredith, "Did she just say babies?" Meredith and George both walk into the room. They see Alex passed out on the bed as Izzie starts to stand up to get her shoes on. "Did she say babies?" He repeats himself, this time to Izzie.

"Triplets, George, I am having triplets!" Izzie says as she grabs the collar of his shirt.

"Holy crap, what a night," George says as he hugs his best friend. "Congratulations…I think."

Allison gets to the hospital early as not to be seen by anyone. She had heard what had happened the night before at Meredith's house and thought it would be best to avoid confrontation assuming there would be some. Allison has no doubt in her mind that just about everyone in the hospital knows what is going on. She doesn't want to see the interns or Mark or Addison or even Derek at this point. She just wants to lock herself in her office and get some work done. Her office, the door is open ajar and she specifically remembers closing it. She lets out one heavy sigh before she flips on the light switch, she cannot even imagine what they could have done during her day off nor did she imagine what she saw when she opened her eyes.

Post-it notes everywhere. Not just plain post-it notes but post it notes with messages on them that are not your typical friendly reminders. Things like "ho" and "skank" and "bitch" were written on these post-it notes. Not one molecule of her office was left unposted. She stands in her doorway in awe of what she is standing in front of. She debates in her head if she should just ignore them or if she should make an issue out of it. Maybe the old Allison would have gone to the chief and had him bring up the video tapes of who did this and bring them to the proper disciplinary actions but this Allison knows who did it and why they did it. This Allison will clean up her office and get to work before anyone could see what had happened.

Whispers in the intern locker room stir as they all put their scrubs on. Cristina is of course pissed off that she missed the fight at Meredith's between Derek and Mark and she wants details. "So how was he?" Cristina pries as Meredith quickly pulls her scrub top over her head.

"I thought you wanted to hear about the fight," Meredith says trying to avoid the very personal question Cristina had asked her. Truth be told, the reason she is shying away from such personal questions is because just the mere thought of what Mark had done to her the night before is enough to make anyone blush. She turns into her locker to hide the smile that was beginning to creep across her face, she cannot help it.

"That good, huh? Wow." Meredith could not fool Cristina, the more she tries to avoid the question the better the sex was. The smile gave Meredith away more than any silent treatment could.

"You have no idea," George chimes in as he sits down on the bench.

"GEORGE!" Meredith screams as she does not want it broadcasted all over the hospital. She cannot lie to herself anymore thinking that her screams of pleasure were not heard throughout her house.

"I have never heard screams of pure delight like I heard last night coming from Meredith's bedroom. I don't know what McSteamy was doing in there but he should hold a sex class after Alex's new daddy class." Izzie adds. They all laugh accept for Alex.

"Oh come on Alex, lighten up," Meredith says.

"You're talking good about the dude who almost killed my babies. Oh god, babies. Triplets, how could there possibly be three?!" Alex rambles and then exits the room, Izzie follows after him.

"Have you seen the morons yet today? Both of them have scratches all over their face and each of them also has a black eye. Chief Webber is not going to be happy with them," Cristina says as she ties her shoe and then they walk out in the hall to join Izzie and Alex.

Allison decided she would leave the post-it notes up in her office to show that it didn't bother her. It bothered her very much but she wouldn't dare show it to anyone. She sits in her post-it note filled office only to have removed the post-its from her New York skyline poster, she misses home more than ever. Derek slowly walks into the office and sits down. He looks up at her with sadness in his eyes. His hair is all over the place and it looks like he hadn't slept much the night before. Allison looks up when she hears him sigh in the chair.

"What the hell happened in here?" Derek asks as he looks around amazed at the amount of post-its that covered the office. "Who did this?"

"Who do you think?" She pauses, "Oh Derek, you look terrible. Mark beat you up good, huh?"

"He looks just as bad Ally. Richard is going to kill me," he says as he puts his head in his hands.

"No he won't, I'll make you up to make it look like nothing happened. I have done it before for Gianni, I am really good at it."

"It's the only way isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so," she says as she starts digging in her purse.

Izzie and Cristina run over to Meredith. "You have to find, Mark, Mer," Izzie says almost in a panic.

"Why?" Meredith asks, before they can answer they see Mark down the hall. Izzie grab's Meredith's arm as they rush towards him. Cristina grabs Mark by the arm and they go into a supply closet.

"It has always been a fantasy of mine to be with 3 women," Mark slyly says as he gives Meredith a smirk. Cristina and Izzie are unfazed by his remarks, they are too busy digging into a bag.

"Found it!" Izzie yells as she holds up a tube of foundation. She looks to Mark, "we need to put make up on you."

"Oh no you don't," Mark says as he starts to back up away from the girls.

"Listen, Allison is putting makeup on Derek as we speak and you don't want to be the only one in this hospital with bruises," Cristina says as she pins him against the back of the closet.

"Wait how do you know this?" Meredith asks.

"That's not important," Cristina replies. Meredith just looks at her. "Don't worry about it, Mer, we have it all taken care of."

"That's what I am afraid of."

"We put a baby monitor in Allison's office," Izzie blurts out. Meredith and Mark both look at her and laugh. "Come on, McSteamy, just hold still for 5 minutes." Mark rolls his eyes and sits still.

Ho, Skank, Bitch are just some of the names she is being called as she walks down the hallways of Seattle Grace. Allison regrets leaving her office, under her bitter judgment she ventured down to the cafeteria for coffee. She soon found out that she made a mistake. Allison realizes what she is up against and now decides against retaliation. All morning she had been plotting a way to get back at Yang and Stevens for what they had done to her office only to realize that she is alone and attempting to fight back would be useless.

She sees Derek across the cafeteria looking at melancholy as ever. She doesn't want to face him. She doesn't want to talk to him. She knows it was her fault that he is in the position he finds himself in and she feels terrible about it. Allison decides coffee isn't worth the name calling she would encounter if she decided to walk the rest of the way to the coffee stand so she turns and goes back to her office.

As Derek pays for his coffee he looks at a reflection of himself in the glass case that the pretzels are held in. You can hardly tell he was in a fight the night before. His right eye is slightly swollen but if anyone asks about it he just tells them it's allergies. He glances up to see a figure with her hair flipping as she turns around, Allison. The way she pivoted it was like she was in slow motion. He wants so desperately to go to her and tell her all that he is feeling. At that moment nothing else mattered, yes he got into a fight with his ex best friend, yes he broke Meredith's heart, yes it killed him to see Mark screwing his girlfriend but he didn't care. All he wants is to go to Allison and take away all her pain and hold her and tell her they will be together forever. "If she'll have me," he finds himself saying out loud. His eyes widen in the awkwardness of talking to himself, but no one heard. He smiles at the cashier as she hands him his change and he quickly walks away.

As Allison makes her way passed the nurse's station the whispers and the name calling stops. Finally some peace, maybe the nurses don't know or maybe they just don't care. She tries not to make eye contact with anyone as she slips back into her office. Richard is sitting at her desk and he looks up at her as she walks in. She sighs because she knows now that she will have to explain to him everything that has been going on and he's not going to like it. "Can you tell me what the hell is going on here?" Richard asks sternly.

George walks into Addison's office and closes the door behind him. He looks out the windows to make sure no one is looking and he closes all of the blinds. Addison smiles thinking he is there for a morning sex session. "I knew you'd finally warm up to sex in the morning," Addison says as he walks over to him.

George is confused for a moment, "what? No no, that's not what I am here for."

Addison is disappointed and sits back down at her desk, "oh. Then why are you here? We're not friends or anything so you better not think you're going to sit here and treat me like I am Izzie."

"I think they know," he bluntly says, "they keep making comments. What are we going to do?"

"If they know they know, George, we're not doing anything wrong," Addison reassures, "if they bring it up fine, you can tell them, but if not then don't draw attention to it."

"Right, don't draw attention to it. I can do that," George says as he nods his head to himself. He looks up at her and her face is a little flushed. "Are you ok? You look a little sick."

"I think it was something I ate last night," she pauses, "So, still up for that morning sex?" George just smiles and walks over to her and kisses her. Addison clears off her desk with one swoop of her hand, her folders and books falling to the floor. She sits on the desk top and awaits George to get his pants down. He stands there with his pants down as Addison starts to giggle because he cannot reach her and has to stand on a phone book to make himself taller.

"It's not funny, Addison," he grumbles. Her giggles turn into full on laughter as she tries to cover her mouth with her hand. George gets frustrated with her and pulls his scrub pants back up. It's not long before he too starts to laugh. "Next time we're going into an on call room."

"No stay, just sit in my chair," Addison pleads, "We can still do this."

"It's too late, I am not in the mood anymore. You laughed at me with my pants down. A man doesn't take that too lightly, you know."

Addison walks over to him and grabs his package in her hand and starts rubbing his shaft. She leans in close and whispers in his ear, "You in the mood now?" He slowly nods his head yes as she guides him with her hand on his shoulder to sit down in her chair, he does. She pulls his scrub pants down to his ankles along with his boxers and straddles him. She leans in to kiss him and all of a sudden there is a loud knock at her door. They both freeze in their tracks and stare at the door. Addison finally speaks up, "Who is it?"

"Addison it's me, is Dr. O'Malley in there? Someone said that they saw him come in here. He is my intern today and I need him for a surgery," Mark says from outside the door. He tries to open the door but it's locked. "Why is the door locked?"

"I had to reprimand him on something he did with a patient earlier in the week. I am done with him now, I'll send him out," Addison says as she jumps back from George as she straightens her hair out. She pushes down on her skirt to make sure there are no wrinkles. She turns around for George to have the final say if she looks normal. He nods. She looks down to see his still hard cock poking through his scrubs. She smiles and points down. He looks and grabs the chart he brought in there with him and holds it against his crotch to hide it.

"You owe me," he says and he leaves the room.

Later in the day George and Meredith are eating lunch in the courtyard. The table is pretty quiet as each of their minds are preoccupied. Of course both of them were thinking about mind blowing sex. Meredith was thinking about the amazing sex she had the night before and George is wishing he got some earlier in the day. They both look at each other desperate to vent to the other. Neither of them thought it would be appropriate so they go back to their food.

Finally George speaks up, "Sloan almost caught us today."

"You really need to be more careful, George. Why do it in the hospital at all?"

"It's her fault! I went in there to tell her something but she wanted more so I had to give it to her."

"Ok, we can't talk about this. I can't look at you seriously when you talk like that," Meredith says as she tries her hardest to keep a straight face. George blushes.

"What about you? What's on your mind?" he asks trying to change the subject.

"You don't wanna know," she replies, there is no way she could talk about sex with George even though he had been in the other room to hear how great it was.

"Let me guess, you're ready for round two with Sloan," George says, Meredith doesn't respond, "your silence is your answer." George smiles and Meredith covers her face with her hands, she is embarrassed that she let Mark make her feel this way but half of her is not surprised. He is named McSteamy for a reason.

Cristina walks over and takes a seat next to Meredith. She sets her tray down and begins to eat an apple. With her mouth full she asks, "Oh George, did Sloan find you earlier?" George can't help but stare at her open mouth as she talks, little pieces of apple flying everywhere. She waves her hand in front of his eyes, "Yo! Lover boy, I asked you a question. Did McSteamy find you?" George is snapped out of his disgusted trance.

"How do you know about that?"

"I sent him there. He looked like he was looking for a lost puppy and I was right. I pointed him in the right direction," Cristina says smugly with a huge grin on her face. George could feel his blood begin to boil and his face getting red.

He mumbles, "You know, don't you? You evil woman."

"You really should watch what you say in the walls of this hospital, George, you never know who will be hiding behind a food cart listening in on your conversation," Cristina says with an even bigger smile on her face, if that is even possible.

"Wow you ARE evil," Meredith chimes in.

"Thank you," Cristina says as she does a mini bow. Izzie and Alex walk over to the table. Izzie sits down as Alex places 3 bottles of ranch dressing on the table and 2 family sized bags of Lays potato chips. "What the hell is all this?"

"She's craving ranch," Alex responds.

"Hey well at least all three babies want the same thing, right?" Meredith says as she tries to reach for a chip. Izzie smacks Meredith's hand. "OW!"

"Yeah I should've warned you not to do that," Alex says as he sits down, "This pregnancy thing is not fun."

"Like you are one to talk, Evil Seed, I am carrying three babies inside me! All you are doing is sitting there complaining about how much food I'm eating. You're lucky I don't make you wear one of those man pregnancy things to see how I feel. Well in your case you'd have to wear three!" Izzie snaps as she shovels ranch covered chips into her mouth.

"Evil Seed?" Meredith says as she starts to laugh.

"Yeah, isn't it wonderful?" Alex sarcastically says as he sulks in his chair. He mumbles to himself, "Only a few more months."

"I HEARD THAT!" Izzie snaps. The whole table bursts out in laughter. Izzie looks angrily at Meredith, "I wish quad McSteamy babies on you." She says as her nose scrunches up trying to be as serious as she can.

"Now that's not even funny!" Meredith says. Izzie giggles as she pours the ranch dressing into her mouth. They all look at her horrified but turn their heads away as soon as she focuses back on the group.

All day Meredith has been trying to work up the courage to talk to Mark. She isn't expecting him to ask her out on a date but she didn't deserved to be ignored like he had been doing all day. Maybe it was just sex but it is something that should be talked about. There he is at the end of the hallway talking to a patient's family. She can't go now, he is busy. There is no other time to go though, she will have to wait until they are finished. There is the opportunity, the famous Sloan handshake goodbye. Meredith inhales a deep breath and walks down the hallway to her doom, well she thought it to be her doom anyway.

"Mark," was all she could squeeze out.

"Dr. Grey," Mark responds.

"Oh it's Dr. Grey now is it," Meredith says not even trying to hide her disappointment. "I thought maybe we should talk about last night. I mean not like there is much to talk about anyway, I mean it was just sex. I also wanted to thank you for standing up for me to Derek. Um yeah but I thought we should definitely discuss the sex." She knows she sounds like a complete stumbling moron right now but the more she tries to stop herself, the more words fly out of her mouth.

"The sex was great," Mark said trying to keep his words at a minimum. He doesn't want to get too attached and he doesn't want her to get attached either. He does his best to not show any emotion during their conversation even though he sees all of her emotions in her eyes. He would love to tell her how he feels but he just can't. She is too special to be hurt again by anyone, she deserves better. "I don't think we should make that a habit though, don't you agree?"

"Of course not," Meredith lies, she wanted it every day, "So anyway, isn't it great what Izzie and Cristina did to Allison. I am surprised she kept those post-it notes up all day." Meredith tries to change the subject after the awkwardness they were both feeling during the mention of sex.

"She doesn't deserve it. You guys don't know her like I do. You have her all wrong."

"I don't know why you defend her all the time. She is evil and you know it. I can't believe you actually are standing here and saying she is a good person. You are delusional," Meredith cannot control the words flying out of her mouth, whatever is on her mind is what she says. She is hurt that he would blow her off but defend the bitch that has ruined so many lives. "She's a cunt, Mark." As soon as the words leave her lips they hear a dropping of folders on the floor. They both turn to where the noise came from to see Allison bending down to pick up her papers with tears streaming down her face. She looks up mortified that they saw her there and she runs away.

Mark turns to Meredith who is a little surprised in herself for saying those things but Meredith meant every word of it. He turns back to look down the hallway for Allison but she is already out of site. Mark turns back to Meredith again and sighs, "You're right, I shouldn't defend her. What she did was horrible. I hurt her more than she hurt me, however, so she deserves for someone to defend her. It might as well be the person who hurt her the most even if she doesn't know it." He wipes his hand over his beard, "Listen, I know there was a reason you came up to me today but I can't do this right now. We can talk about it some other time, ok?" Before she can answer he is halfway down the hallway. She watches him get onto the elevator then storms off in disbelief.

Meredith needs to be alone, she needs quiet, hell she just needs time to take in all that had happened during the course of the week. She wanted to leave and just drive until her car ran out of gas and where ever she wound up would be where she would stay for a while, but she can't she's in the hospital and not going anywhere. There is only one place she knows she can go that nobody will bother her, a place where they used to find sanctuary but not so much anymore, she heads to the tunnel. When she gets there she sees that no one is there just like she had hoped. She sits down on the gurney and leans her head back against the wall behind her. She wants to cry. She wants to cry for days. She wants to cry until there are no tears left but she is tired and exhausted emotionally to do so, so she sits and enjoys the silence.

"I knew I would find you down here," Cristina says as she takes a seat next to Meredith. Cristina, the one person she didn't mind interrupting her silence, the only person she could talk to who truly understands her.

"I have a problem, I like Mark," Meredith says as she turns her head to face Cristina, she is even a little surprised at herself that she just came out with it like that.

"You think you have problems? Burke asked me to marry him," Cristina replies not even hearing what Meredith said, she was too consumed in her own thoughts.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Cristina says nothing, "Well ok, did you say yes at least?"

"No, of course I didn't. I said, "does this mean I will be getting more sex?" Cristina holds up her left hand to reveal the ring. "I am so desperate that I am wearing this stupid ring." Meredith takes her hand and admires the beautiful ring Burke had picked out for her. She smiles, only Cristina couldn't appreciate such beauty as that ring is. Cristina looks to Meredith, "did you just say you like McSteamy?"

Mark walks frantically through the hospital. He looks in each room only to come up empty handed of what he is looking for. He is startled by a voice behind him, "Looking for something, Mark?" He turns around quickly, Addison, just who he was looking for.

"Addison, I need to talk to you," Mark said as he pulls her into an empty patient's room.

"I need to talk to you too, I don't know who else to turn to," Addison says as she sits down in a chair, Mark sits down on the bed. "You go first."

"I like Meredith," he bluntly says.

Addison rolls her eyes, "What else is new? Seems like everyone falls for her for some reason," Addison replies, "Sorry, I am supposed to be helpful here aren't I?"

"It would be nice," Mark snips, "Ok fine, never mind, what is your problem?"

"I am pregnant, Mark," she says as she puts her head in her hands.

"What? Pregnant? How can that be? We haven't slept together in a long time," Mark says as he panics. He can't have another kid by another woman he no longer feels for.

"It's not yours," she pauses, reluctantly she continues, "It's George's."

"O'Malley? You're sleeping with O'Malley? Talk about keeping it in the family," he says as he stands up, furious. "You're not going to keep it, are you? You can't kill my baby and keep his."

Addison is silent and just looks up at him, "This was a mistake. We can't talk to each other about these things."

"That's not all that was a mistake," Mark yells as he leaves the room.

Izzie walks quickly to the tunnel where she finds her two friends sitting in silence. She clears her throat and they both look in her direction. "Allison's gone," she says as she holds up their part of the baby monitor.

"What?" Cristina asks in shock.

"Apparently Meredith called her, uh well the C word," Izzie explains.

Cristina looks to Meredith like a mother would look at her child after doing something spectacular. She has a huge smile on her face as she says, "You called her a cunt? Holy crap, Mer, nice set of balls on you."

"I didn't say it to her, I said it to Mark and she just happened to be there."

"This is the last time I let Burke propose to me, I miss all the good stuff."

Izzie's eyes light up, "He proposed! Let me see let me see!" She practically squeals when Cristina shows her the ring.

"Yeah whatever, that's not important right now, what exactly happened?" Cristina says as she puts her hand back into her pocket.

Derek walks into his office and closes the door behind him. He is so exhausted from the day he just had that he could probably fall asleep right there in his chair sitting up. He puts his head down on his desk only to have a piece of paper stick to his head. He sits back up, grabs the paper from his forehead and reads it.

_Derek,_

_I have to leave, I do not belong here in Seattle. Tell Mark we will arrange for him to see Josh. My plane leaves at 11:15am._

_Allison_

He looks down at his watch, 10:00, if he hurries he can make it in time to stop her. He grabs his coat and runs out of the office.

It seems like as soon as he leaves the hospital the clouds open up and it starts pouring. If he wasn't used to the unpredictable Seattle weather he would've sworn God was against him. He pulls the back of his jacket over his head and runs to his car. He hadn't wasted much time running from his office to his car so he knows he's in good shape, he just needs to make sure he doesn't hit any traffic. Derek is determined and he will not fail. He just cannot and he will not let her leave him again, no, not this time.

Allison takes one last look into her house before she steps out onto the porch. She closes and locks the door behind her. She has Josh in one arm and is trying to fiddle with the umbrella to get it open with the other arm. She didn't even bother packing bags, she has nothing in Seattle. She just has her son and his things, those are what's most important. The rain is coming down so hard that it's almost impossible to see through it but she is pretty sure she sees a car pulling into her driveway. Yes that's a car, it must be the taxi. She wants until he is closer before she runs out into the rain.

Derek sees her standing on the top of the stairs. He is so relieved that she hasn't left yet. He takes a deep breath and steps out of his car into the pouring rain. He doesn't bother with his jacket this time, he just runs to be in the shelter of the roof that hangs over the porch. As he approaches Allison starts to realize that the taxi has not come yet, but that it is Derek. He finally makes it to the stairs and stops half way up, the rain is still pouring on him but he doesn't care. All that he cares about is what he is about to say, he wants it to be perfect. She speaks up first, "Derek what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean what am I doing here? I love you, plain and simple. I love you and I know that you love me. Don't even tell me that you don't because if you didn't we wouldn't be standing here like this. You would be gone already and you wouldn't have left me a note telling me what time I had until. You wont let yourself love me but I am here asking you to stay and let me love you."

"I can't Derek, I just can't," she begins before he cuts her off.

"If you don't stay here then I am going with you. I am not leaving this spot until you agree to stay with me no matter where we go. I need you and I know that you need me, I can see it in your eyes." She turns her head away, he pulls it back by her cheek to face him. "I knew it. You can't deny it anymore, Allison." The taxi pulls up behind Derek's car.

"That's the taxi, I have to go," she says as she takes a step forward. He steps to the side to be right in front of her, "Come on Derek, this isn't funny. I need to go."

"I am going with you!" This time he says it with a raised voice, some people would even call it yelling.

"You can't go with me, Derek" she very calmly says despite his yelling.

"Give me one good reason why not."

"Richard is going to name you chief, Derek, so no you cannot leave Seattle. You need to stay here and take care of the hospital. I will not be the one to get in the way of your dream. So now tell me how much you love me and want to be with me and will cross back over the country for me," now Allison is yelling, "Step aside, Derek." She basically pushes him out of the way and walks passed him. He follows her down the steps. They reach the end of the driveway and he grabs her free arm and spins her around.

"Marry me," he says. She has no reaction. She is stone cold still with a shocked look on her face. He repeats himself, this time raising his voice once again to mask out the sound of the pouring rain and for all to hear, "Marry me, Allison. MARRY ME!"

"I….I can't" she says, then she turns around and walks towards her house waving off the taxi driver.


	30. Chapter 30

"IT'S TIME!" George screams as he runs out of Izzie's bedroom. "THEY'RE COMING!" He continues down the hallway to Meredith's room. He knocks feverishly on her door, he doesn't wait for a response before he opens the door. He runs over to Meredith, who is sound asleep in her bed, and shakes her. "Meredith wake up, we have to get Izzie to the hospital."

Meredith is startled by George's shaking and screaming but she is too tired to react. She just moans and turns over. She grabs the pillow and puts it over her head. She almost hopes that underneath that pillow will put her in a dream land where George can't bother her, it is her day off and she would like to sleep in. She has no such luck as George grabs the pillow and throws it across the room. He then pulls her blankets off of her. "It's my day off, George, leave me alone," she huffs.

"Izzie is in labor, get up!" he says, "I've already called Alex and he is on his way to the hospital, how is it going to look if he shows up before us?"

It finally hits Meredith what exactly is going on, "Holy crap, she's in labor!" Meredith springs out of bed and down the hall to Izzie's room. Izzie is trying to get up from the bed, George runs over to help her stand. "The c-section isn't scheduled until next week," Meredith says.

"Well obviously, they have other plans," Izzie grunts as she points to her belly, which has expanded to the size of 2 watermelons. If you would ask her she would say 5 watermelons.

"Do you have your bags packed?" Meredith asks. Izzie just points to the bags that are sitting in the corner of the room. "Ok I am going to call Addison to let her know we are coming. George, help Izzie down the stairs, I will get the car started." Meredith grabs Izzie's bags and runs out of the room and out to her truck.

Addison is lying down in bed enjoying her late morning. Arms tucked behind her head she stares at the ceiling and starts humming to herself. She doesn't get many mornings where she could just stay in bed until noon so she was going to enjoy every second of it, that is until her phone rings. It's not her home phone that may be her mother calling to ask her how she is doing, no, this is the ringing of the hospital cell phone. "Just great," she mutters as she rolls onto her side. She grabs the phone and puts it to her ear, "Dr. Montgomery." She says, trying not to sound annoyed.

"Addison, it's Meredith. Izzie is going into labor, we are on the way to the hospital." Addison could tell Meredith was in total panic by the sound of her voice over the phone. She springs out of bed and starts throwing clothes on.

"I didn't even get to shower," Addison mutters, Meredith is too preoccupied to notice, "Meredith I will be there shortly." Addison hangs up the phone, finishes getting dressed, and rushes out the door.

Meredith turns to Izzie, "Addison is on her way there. We are 5 minutes from the hospital, hang in there"

Izzie has her hand wrapped tightly around George's hand. He is wincing in pain but wouldn't dare make a sound. "Keep your eyes on the road, Mer! You're going to get us all killed." Izzie yells as a contraction starts sneaking up on her. Meredith smiles and turns back around, she was at a red light but she wouldn't think of talking back to Izzie. In the sixth month Izzie had gotten fairly cranky due to her size and in each passing month she just got worse and worse. It will be a relief to all of them when the babies are born.

They pull up to the hospital and George helps Izzie out of the truck. Meredith drives off to park. Alex meets them half way to the door with a wheel chair and Izzie sits down. "Thanks, George, how far apart are they?" Alex says.

"Are what?" George asks, confused.

"The contractions, O'Malley," Alex yells, "how far are they apart?" George just blankly looks at him, Alex scowls.

"I forgot! Things got so crazy, we didn't count!"

"You're useless," Alex says as he pushes Izzie's wheelchair into the hospital.

Addison runs to catch up with them, sniffing herself every step of the way to make sure she smelled at least some what decent, she would definitely shower after the delivery. "How far apart are they?" Addison asks, gasping for breath from the jog that she had just taken to catch up with them. She reminds herself that running while pregnant is not such a smart thing to do, very exhausting.

"Numb nuts didn't count," Alex snaps as he gives a mean look to George, George hangs his head.

"There is no need to panic or get angry," she looks to George and Alex as she says this, "let's just get her inside and examined so we see what we are dealing with." Addison gives a friendly smile to George to show him that he didn't do anything wrong. They all walk in together.

Pony rides, clowns, magicians, moonwalks, face painting. These are the things that have been consuming Allison's mind for over a month and she hasn't come to a conclusion on what should be for her son's first birthday party. "It's in two weeks, Derek, two weeks and I have nothing planned. Things should be planned already. It should all be taken care of."

Derek is standing behind her leaning over her shoulder looking at the party planning website she had been obsessed with. "Why don't you have a normal party with all of us there and a whole bunch of little monsters from his day care?" Derek says trying not to laugh at her frustration. He finds it so cute how consumed she is in the whole thing.

"Are you crazy? Did you see what the Thompson's did for Lilly? I will not be out done."

"You're hopeless," he teases as he kisses her on the cheek.

"I thought we agreed on no public displays of affection, Derek, if Richard sees he will not be happy," Allison says as she pushes him away from her.

"Richard is going to be retiring soon and then things will be different," Derek says as he wraps his arms around her.

She tries to push him away again but he is too strong, "Derek, we didn't go to those stupid fake therapy sessions with Meredith and Mark for nothing. You have to admit things are a little easier now that we all sat down and talked it out."

"I guess," Derek says stubbornly. There still hadn't been that closure he was hoping for. He knew the "sessions" Richard had them sit through really helped Allison and Mark become better friends and better parents but there is still tension between Derek and Meredith. For weeks he had wanted to go up to her and say his final goodbyes but he could never work up the courage. He had talked to Allison about it and today is the day, he promised himself that much. Meredith rushes by Allison's office, they both see her. Derek looks to Allison and she motions for him to go. Derek says nothing but runs out of the office to catch up to her. He follows Meredith onto the elevator where they were alone. "Listen we need to talk."

"We have done all the talking we possibly can, Derek, let it go," Meredith says. She is tired it. She is tired of worrying about Meredith and Derek. She now just wants to be Meredith. It had been so exhausting trying to get Mark to give them a try that she had given up on that too. She faces forward to ignore him and the looks she knows he is giving her.

Derek reaches for the stop button and pushes it. "I have been working on this in my head for weeks now. What I am going to say, how you're going to react, how I will react to those reactions. I still don't know what I am going to say but all I know is that without this we will never be able to move on."

"Derek, I really don't need this," she pleads with him. She doesn't want to hear anymore. She doesn't want to get emotional and cry. All she wants is to be with Izzie.

"Yeah maybe you don't, but I do so you're going to listen to me," he pauses, "I know it doesn't mean anything but I am sorry. I truly am sorry from the bottom of my heart. What I did to you no man should do to any woman and I just want you to know that I will never forgive myself. You deserve happiness and you would never have gotten that from me. That doesn't excuse what I did and this isn't coming out the way I want it to."

"Derek you don't…"

"Yes I do!" he says with desperation. He takes a deep breath and thinks of what to say next. Words don't come to him. There is nothing he can say to take her pain away. He will have to live with what he did to her. He hits the button again to make the elevator move. There would be no use in wasting any more of her time. "There is one last thing I want to do before I say good bye and we could both move on with our lives." He takes another deep breath and then he kisses her. It's soft and sweet and seemed to go on forever. They are interrupted from their trance by the sound of the ding of the elevator. This is her floor. She looks at him with tears in her eyes and he looks back as his eyes are glassy as well. "Goodbye, Meredith."

"Goodbye, Derek," she says and slowly turns to exit the elevator. He stays on as the doors close and he his left by himself. He pushes the down button to go about his day.

Meredith wipes her eyes and walks into Izzie's room where it's total chaos. Izzie is screaming at Alex. Addison is trying to calm her down. Alex is almost in tears and sitting next to Izzie's bed as she holds onto his hand through another contraction. George and Cristina are sitting down and enjoying the view, that's where Meredith heads over to. She takes a seat in between George and Cristina. "So, things are going well I see," Meredith jokes.

"I bet Karev faints," Cristina says.

"Ok, Izzie, we're going to get ready to push," Addison says. They all look at Addison in shock.

"WHAT? I thought we were doing a c-section. I can't push three babies out. You're insane!" Izzie screams. "I want a new doctor!"

"Iz, she must be joking," Alex reassures, "They babies aren't even turned over."

Izzie shoots Addison an angry look, "That wasn't very funny."

"I am sorry, Izzie, I didn't mean to upset you. We are going to get you prepped. George will be scrubbing in with me."

"Oh man, why George?" Cristina whines.

"Because you and Meredith aren't even working today," Addison responds, "Everybody besides O'Malley and Karev need to wait out in the waiting room." They all leave the room and sit down.

"Derek kissed me goodbye," Meredith spoke up out of nowhere. It was too quiet and the incident had been on her mind since she stepped off the elevator.

"Oh? Where is he going?"

"Nowhere, we're just moving on with life," She says but not even sure of what the meaning was behind it. Derek had babbled in that elevator for what seemed like an eternity and she was only half listening anyway.

"It's a good thing you two aren't together anymore, Mer, that man confuses the hell out of me.

"Yeah me too."

Mark walks into Allison's office where she is still blankly staring at her computer screen. "This better be important, Allison."

Without looking away from the screen she says, "Clown or magician?"

"Neither, clowns freak me out and magicians are corny," he replies as he walks over to her to see what she is even talking about. He sees the party planning website. "Allison, didn't I tell you to forget all that stuff? It's going to be small with family and friends and that's it. I understand a first birthday is important but he can't even say daddy yet, he won't care that there aren't any clowns there."

"Is that what this is about? That he won't say daddy?" she accuses.

"No, you nut job. This is about you and your obsession with this huge party that you want to throw for no reason. Just make it small with family and friends," he says, "oh and my mother is coming."

"Good, she can fly up with my parents. They could all talk together about how much of a shame it is that we aren't still together for the millionth time."

"I already told my mother there will be none of that at the party. I have to get going and take care of a real emergency. Are we clear on this party stuff now?"

"Yeah we're clear"

In the OR Addison is preparing to start the surgery. George is standing right by assisting any way he can. Alex is sitting patiently in the corner of the OR waiting for them to begin. While they wait for the anesthesiologist to get there she remembers when she first told George that she was pregnant.

_Addison walks into the intern locker room where George has changed into his regular clothes and getting ready to go home. He is alone since he stayed late to help Bailey with a few things. He doesn't notice her at first but she sighs and he looks up. When he sees her he smiles. "Not tonight, Addison, I am exhausted," he says, thinking she wants a late night romp around the locker room._

"_That's not why I am here, listen George, we need to talk about something," she says trying not to sound too serious but she's unsure that worked. They both sit down on the bench as she takes his hand in hers. He knew this day would come, the day where she no longer wanted him. It doesn't bother him though. He knew it wouldn't last forever. It was wonderful while it lasted. He never had such an amazing thing with anyone and it was totally emotionally uninvolved for both parties. She takes one deep breath before letting it out, "George, I am pregnant."_

_George's mouth drops, he couldn't help it. That was definitely not what he was expecting to hear. "Y-You're pregnant? Is it mine?" He didn't want to seem insensitive but that's all that he could think of to say._

"_It is."_

"_Are you going to keep it?" he realizes how terrible that sounds but it was something that would have to be talked about sooner or later. They weren't a couple, they didn't love each other. There was no logical reason to keep the baby. He would understand if she wanted to though._

"_After Derek left New York I had found out that I had become pregnant and it was Mark's. I didn't want a baby with Mark, I wanted one with Derek. Derek never would have taken me back if I would have showed up here pregnant so I got an abortion," Addison begins to say. George holds her hand tighter, "I am not getting any younger, George, and this may be my last chance. I understand if you wouldn't want to be responsible for it, I won't make you if you don't want to. I will leave that up to you, but I will be keeping this baby."_

_Without even hesitating George knows his response, "Of course I want to help you take care of the baby. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's going to be ok." She smiles and he hugs her. "It was fun while it lasted."_

_She laughs. "Yeah it was." _

"Addison, are you ok?" she snaps out of her daydream by the sound of George's voice. She looks around the room to see everyone looking at her. She wonders how long she was standing there like an idiot staring into space.

Addison smiles, "Perfect, I am perfect. Let's have these babies."

For months Meredith had been chasing Mark hoping that their one night of fun would turn into something more. Mark just couldn't do that to her. He cared so much for her that he didn't want to be the one to hurt her again, he was sure that he would eventually screw it all up. So he ran, he ran and avoided and told her he felt nothing for her when that wasn't the case at all. Every day was torture for him, to pretend he didn't love her. He knows it hurts now but she would get over it and move on, they always do.

He takes a deep breath as he walks through the doors of the waiting room. He is unsure what he is going to say to her or if he is even going to say anything. He made a point every day to go look at her when she isn't looking just to see if she is ok. He had heard Izzie came in earlier in the morning in labor so he knew where to find her. He also knows Cristina would be with her but he doesn't care. He stands in the doorway and leans on the wall inside the room not really sure if he should interrupt them. Meredith is laughing at something. There is no doubt in his mind that Cristina is making fun of Alex, he laughs to himself at the infections laugh of Meredith Grey. She turns as she laughs and sees him standing there, her laugh tapers off into just a smile. She's smiling at him and he smiles back. Now would probably be a good time to say something, Mark. "I heard Stevens came in, I just want to see how everything is going," he finally says.

"She is in with Addison right now. We should get word soon if you want to stick around," Meredith replies, almost hoping that he would stay with them. She missed him and the friendship they used to have even if it was a little screwed up, the Dirty Mistress Club. She laughs as she remembers when she made up those silly rules for him in the elevator.

Mark's pager beeps, he looks down and his smile turns into a frown. "9-1-1, I have to go." He slowly turns around and leaves the waiting room. Meredith watches him until he can no longer be seen. She turns back around to face Cristina who is looking at her.

"Don't even say it," Meredith says as she raises a finger to her friend.

"I have made the first incision, Izzie," Addison says as George looks on. Alex is standing by Izzie's head and holding her hand, "Dr. O'Malley, I am going to need you next to me. I will be handing you each baby and you will bring them over to the examining table."

"Yes, Dr. Montgomery," George says as he scurries to the other side of the table to stand next to Addison. He never thought in a million years he would be looking at the insides of his best friend but he is honored to be chosen to be there for her. He looks to Izzie, "Everything looks great, Iz."

"I am now making the incision in your uterus," Addison explains. She makes the incison. "There we go. You're doing great, Izzie, the hard part is almost done. Ok everyone, get ready, I am taking the first one out." Addison slowly raises the baby up, "It's a girl!" She hands the baby to George who brings her over to the examination table where the staff will examine her. George quickly walks back over to the operating table where Addison has the second baby half way out. Addison looks to her side to make sure George is there, he is. "Ready?" She asks him, he nods. Addison pulls the baby out all the way, "It's another girl!"

At this point Alex isn't sure whether he should jump for joy or be totally frightened, "If I don't have a boy I am going to pass out," he says. He looks over to the examination tables where two of his daughters are now being prepared to be brought over to him. He turns to Izzie, "Oh they're beautiful, Iz, you'll get to see them soon."

Alex is too busy making sure Izzie is ok that he almost missed Addison call out, "We have a baby boy." Alex quickly looks over to Addison who is holding his son. He smiles really wide and then faints. Addison hands the baby off to George then rushes over to Alex to make sure he is ok. George brings the baby over to the examination table and picks up the first baby and brings her over to Izzie.

"Here is your daughter," George says, "Well one of them." They smile at each other. A nurse exchanges one daughter for the other. "Here is the other, she's just a little smaller."

Izzie starts to tear up as the realization has finally set in. She has her babies and they aren't going anywhere but home with her in a few days and she couldn't be happier. "Is Alex ok?" she asks, worried. Addison sits helps Alex back to his feet. "I thought you said you'd faint if we DIDN'T have a son," she teases.

"I guess I was wrong," he kisses her on the forehead then he turns to George, "Not a word of this to anyone, O'Malley, understood?"

"I wouldn't think of it," George says, "Would you like to hold your son?" Before Alex can say anything George is handing him his son. Alex brings him over to Izzie so she can get a look of him.

"He's absolutely perfect," she says with tears rolling down her cheeks. Alex can't help but tear up as well. These were his kids with the woman he loves, life could not get better.

Meredith and Cristina are waiting patiently in waiting room for any word on the babies. Just then Alex burst through the doors yelling as loud as he could, "Two girls and a boy!"

Meredith gets up to congratulate him and he throws his arms around her. She hugs him back. "Congratulations, Alex," she says, muffled by his shoulder that her head is now buried into.

He finally lets Meredith go and puts his arms wide out with a big smile and faces Cristina, "Come on, Yang."

"Oh no, I don't do hugging," Cristina protests as she starts to back away from him. Before she knows it Alex gives her a big hug too. She wants nothing to do with it holding her hands up in the air trying to push away from him but he won't budge. She finally reaches one arm around him and pats him on the back, barely touching him. "There, ya happy?" Alex just smiles and lets her go.

"They're just stitching her up, and then we could all get to see them," Alex says, calming down a bit.

When they finally get to go see Izzie she is sitting up in the bed with all three babies in her arms. She couldn't have a bigger smile on her face. Alex walks over and picks up his son and sits down next to the bed. Both parents are just glowing with happiness. "We're just waiting for George so we could announce the names," Izzie says.

George steps inside, "I am here, I didn't even change out of my scrubs."

Izzie looks to Alex and says, "I'll go first. This is Danielle Natalia and Robyn Marie." Izzie fights back more tears, she thought she had cried them all out.

Alex proudly says, "This is Andrew Benjamin, future star quarterback." Izzie just shakes her head at Alex's silliness.

Addison walks into the room, "Ok guys, we are going to let Izzie rest so everyone but Alex needs to move on." They all grown and walk out one by one after getting one last look at all the babies.


	31. Chapter 31

Since Izzie went to sleep, Alex went home, and everyone else went back to work Meredith decides it's time to go home. As she walks through the hallways the whispers begin to become clearer. The words "Thatcher Grey" and "car crash" are amongst the words being heard from just about everyone she walks passed. She begins to quicken her pace as more words stick out "car crash" "didn't make it" "DOA". Wait, no, that can't be. Did someone just say DOA? Meredith frantically looks for one of the whisperers but finds no one. She runs down the stairs that lead to the pit. Commotion, there is a commotion. There always is a commotion in the pit, no reason to panic, just one more step and you're there. She hops down the last step and runs to the doors. Mark grabs her, "You can't go in there, Meredith."

"What? Why not? You have to!" she screams. Mark doesn't say a word but looks into her eyes. She fights as she tries to break free from his grip. "Let me go, Mark!" Still silence from him. He tightens his grip on her wrists as she becomes more violent in her attempts to become loose.

"You need to stop," he finally says, trying to be as calm as he. He hopes his calm tone would make Meredith stop resisting him, no such luck.

She yanks back hard on one of her arms and he lets go so he doesn't hurt her. He still has a good hold on her other arm. She grows tired with each failed attempt of freedom. "He can't do this!" she yells now with tears streaming down her face, "He can't go before he knows what he's done to me!" She tries to make a run for the door once more but Mark still has that firm grip on her arm. He pulls her into him and wraps his arms around her. She sobs into his chest. "You have to let me go, Mark, I have to at least say goodbye."

"He's gone, Meredith! He didn't even make it to the hospital. He died on impact," Mark explains as he rubs her back up and down. There is desperation in his voice. He wishes there is something he could do. All he could do is save her from the horrific site of her father lying dead on a gurney. No one deserves to see that site, especially not Meredith Grey who had been through hell and back in her short life time. Maybe she never knew her father but there is no way he would let her last memory of him be that one. "Come on, I'll bring you home."

During the car ride to Meredith's house neither of them say anything. Meredith is trying to stop her tears. She honestly did not know why she cares so much. The man had left her so many years ago that she had stopped caring about him. She sits in the passenger seat staring out the window trying to remember any memories of her father she might have had. She wants to be mad at him for leaving. She wants to move on. She doesn't want to care if he lives or dies yet part of her is aching. The little girl who never knew her father, the little girl who always held onto that hope that some day they would meet again and start over. All of that hope is gone and she is left alone and with no family. She truly feels empty.

Mark pulls up to the house and parks in front. Meredith feels numb and cannot move. She doesn't open the door or get up from the seat, she just sits there. Mark comes around to her side and opens the door for her. He picks her up and carries her into the house. He takes her right to the bedroom where he places her on the bed. She curls up under her blankets without even as much as taking her shoes off. She is numb. He doesn't want to leave her, not like this. A cruel person would leave the woman he cares so much for alone in this state. He is unsure if it is what she wants but in his mind he puts his foot down, she has no choice, he will stay there with her and be there for her. He will be the shoulder to cry on if she needs it. He will be that person to hold her through the night. He is that person. He lies down in the bed next to her and holds her in his arms. She doesn't say a word but he could feel that this is exactly what she needs. They soon fall asleep still with their shoes on and everything.

By the end of the day everyone heard about Thatcher's death. The word also spread like wild fire about Meredith's break down in front of the pit. Her friends grow more and more worried about her when they cannot get in touch with her so they assume she is home and has turned her cell phone off. They all decide to go to the house together since they knew Meredith would need their support no matter how much she denied it. The only person who couldn't go is Izzie and she made Alex promise he'd give Meredith her message for her.

They all slowly walk into the house and start to look around for her. They quickly learn she is nowhere on the first floor of the house. Cristina calls up the stairwell to her, "Meredith, we're all here. Are you doing ok?" No answer. "Don't make us come up there!" Still no answer. They all look at one another and decide to go up the stairs to see if she is ok. They all stop outside of Meredith's bedroom door, Cristina turns around to face them all. "I will go in first to make sure it's ok for everyone else. Wait out here." They all nod their heads in agreement. Cristina slowly opens the door. She sees Mark and Meredith sleeping peacefully on Meredith's bed together and she quickly runs out of the room and closes the door behind her. "UM! She isn't in there."

"What do you mean? There isn't anywhere she could be," George exclaims growing increasingly suspicious of Cristina's behavior. Cristina throws herself against the door and won't let anyone in. "Come on, Cristina, this isn't funny. What's going on?" 

"Just don't go in there, we should just go downstairs and wait until she is ready," Cristina says, trying to divert their attention from the closed bedroom door.

"Move it, Yang," Alex says as he pushes passed Cristina and opens the door. His eyes go wide and he stops in his tracks as soon as he sees Mark in the bed with her. The rest of them follow him in and they all stop in their tracks as well. They are all stunned at what they see and agree that it's best to just leave that where it is until Meredith wakes up. They all quietly walk back down stairs and make themselves comfortable in the living room.

Meredith finally wakes up to the sounds of loud laughing coming from downstairs. She slowly opens her eyes. She rolls over on to her side and faces Mark who is still sleeping. She doesn't want to wake him up but she won't let herself let him sleep over night. She still is hurt by the way he has been treating her ever since they had sex and she won't forget it just like that. She pushes him a little with one of her hands, he doesn't budge. She pushes harder, this time with both hands, still nothing. She takes the pillow out from behind her head and hits him in the face with it. He opens his eyes quickly, startled from getting hit. Meredith lets out a giggle. "You can't stay here tonight," she says.

"You need someone here," he responds, there was no way he'd let her talk her way out of this one. He will be staying no matter what.

"Everyone is down stairs so I am not alone now." Excuses, she needs more excuses. He looks into her eyes, she is getting weaker.

"Meredith, you don't really want me to go. Stop fighting it and just let whatever happens happen." As the words come out of his mouth he realizes that he really should be taking his own advice. He actually should've taken it a long time ago. "I don't want to go."

"I uh will be right back." Meredith slowly leaves the room and walks half way down the stairs to see who is actually in her house and what they are doing. Cristina, George, and Alex are in the living room passed out on various chairs and couches. Meredith tries to get Cristina's attention, "Cristina!" she whispers trying not to wake up the others. Cristina doesn't budge. She tries yelling for her but to no avail. She angrily walks back up the stairs and into her room where Mark is now sitting up in the bed and resting his back on the headboard. "Don't lean on that!" He quickly moves away from it.

"So can I stay?" he asks as he pulls the blanket back over his body. No matter what her answer was he still would not be leaving.

"I suppose," she says sounding defeated. She gets back into the bed with him. She hesitates before resting her head on his chest. He puts his arm around her body and she soon falls back asleep. He shortly follows.

Mark Sloan was never the spend the night type. He would love them and leave them. He wouldn't even call them afterwards. There he was in Meredith's bed not wanting to move his arm from around her because he does not want to wake her. Laying still was becoming boring fast. He had to get up. What if she is a light sleeper? She needs her rest. I can't move, not right now. What if he moves and he wakes up and it had all been a dream? He doesn't want it to end, he wants to just lie there all day with her. "But I have to piss," he finds himself saying out loud. She stirs at the sound of his voice. Shit, she's waking up.

She can't even form a word let alone a sentence. She just looks at Mark through squinty eyes and then puts her head back down on his chest. No, Mark, no, don't let her fall asleep. You need to pee, tell her you need to pee. "I need to pee," he finally says. No don't actually tell her, you moron. Now you just look like an idiot. She smiles and rolls onto her side and off of his arm. He gets up and goes to the bathroom, where Meredith is pointing to, still not able to form words. Meredith grabs her pillow and puts it over her head. The light shining through her shades hurt her eyes.

Downstairs everyone has woken up by the time Meredith threw some clothes on and joined them. Alex and George are in the kitchen trying to put some sort of breakfast together while Cristina makes coffee. Meredith stands in the doorway of the kitchen and watches them. She can't help but laugh at the fact that between the two of them, George and Alex still couldn't put a decent pancake breakfast together. The sound of her giggle diverts their attention to her direction. George walks over to her and hugs her. He doesn't say anything, though, he is unsure of what to say. They don't even know if she feels the same way today about him as she did the day before. "Thanks, George," she whispers into his ear.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what to say," he whispers back.

"You don't need to say anything. This is just fine." She hugs him tighter before she lets go.

Cristina walks over to her and puts her hand on Meredith's shoulder and ushers her into the living room. In a low voice she says, "Is he still here?"

"You saw him?" Meredith asks in shock and whispering.

"We all did, we wanted to make sure you were ok. Is he…" Before Cristina can say anything else Mark appears at the top of the stairs. She sees him and smiles

He half smiles back at her, "Dr. Yang, good morning." Cristina shyly waves and quickly disappears into the kitchen and rejoins George and Alex. Meredith and Mark soon follow and sit down at the table. Alex is still fumbling around in the refrigerator to try to salvage breakfast. "Karev, what are you doing?" Mark asks, he could tell Alex is in need of some saving.

"Trying to make breakfast," Alex almost snaps as he gets frustrated at himself and the damn eggs that he cannot seem to find in the bottomless pit that is Meredith's fridge.

"Sit down, Karev, I'll take care of breakfast," Mark says as he stands up.

"You will?" Meredith asks, stunned.

"I have lots of tricks up this sleeve of mine. You all just sit back, relax, and learn from the master," Mark says proudly as he pushes Alex to the side and starts rummaging through the fridge.

He felt bad he wasn't there for the first night. He really wanted to be there and help out and get her anything she needed. Izzie would not let him stay, in fact she practically begged him to go and be with Meredith. He was determined to make it up to her and after eating Mark's marvelous breakfast he knew just the thing that would bring a smile to her face. Carrying a bag he sighs before entering her now stuffed animal, flowers, and balloon covered room. His eyes widen at the site of everything. "That's a lot of pink," he says out loud, it was supposed to be an inner thought. He kicks himself for saying it. It wasn't the first thing he wanted to say to her, not even close.

"Yeah, everyone has been really nice," Izzie replies, she's too happy to get mad at his comment. The night with the triplets had been amazing and she was grinning from ear to ear, nothing would kill her mood.

"How did it go last night?" is what Alex wanted to say, not groaning about pink.

"It was amazing, Alex, they're all so wonderful. The nurse told me I should start trying to get them on a schedule now so it'll be easier for me when I get home." He couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she looks. She must not have gotten any sleep and yet she was glowing more than he had ever seen a new mother glow before. "They're sleeping right now but it's almost time to feed again. Are you able to stay?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," he says as he sits down in a chair next to her bed. "I brought you breakfast. Sloan made it." Izzie raises an eyebrow to the mention of Mark's name.

"McSteamy? McSteamy made breakfast?" The thought wasn't easy for Izzie to comprehend, heck, none of them would have expected it. They didn't expect to see him sleeping in her bed either, but that was a whole other animal he didn't even want to get into with her.

"Yeah, crazy huh?" he nervously says as he sets up her food tray with the plates of French toast and omelet. "If it's too cold, I can warm it up for you."

The smile on Izzie's face shows that it was just right. With her first bite her eyes practically roll into the back of her head over how good her meal tastes. "This is amazing, and Mark made this?" She shoves another mouth full of toast into her mouth. Still chewing it dawns on her, "Wait a second, why is Mark making breakfast at Meredith's?"

He knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it for much longer. Izzie is a smart girl. "He was there to comfort Meredith." He didn't need to say he was in bed with her, that wasn't his business. If Meredith wants Izzie to know, Meredith will tell her. With that the nurses bring the triplets in. As soon as he sees them a smile comes across his face. He had missed them over the night. "Can I feed Andrew?" The nurse hands Andrew to him, then a bottle. He looks lovingly into his son's eyes as wiggles the bottle into Andrew's mouth. "The perfect son, he isn't crying, he took the bottle right away, he is going to be one fine gentleman."

"Your daughters aren't crying either, you know," Izzie says as she feeds Danielle. "You're not going to be one of THOSE fathers are you?"

"Of course not, Iz, I love them all equally." Andrew is finished with his bottle. "Pass on the next one," Alex says eagerly. The nurse shakes her head as she takes Andrew away from him and hands Robyn to him. As soon as Robyn hits Alex's arms she starts crying. Alex rocks her back and forth to try to calm her down. She doesn't stop. "Shh shh shh. It's ok, Robyn, daddy is here." It melts Izzie's heart to refer to himself as daddy. She watches as Alex tries to calm her down. He looks to Izzie, "I think she hates me!"

"She doesn't hate you," Izzie reassures, "She doesn't know you yet." She couldn't help but tease him. He looked so funny there with his tiny daughter in his arms panicking because he couldn't get her to stop crying. "Maybe she has a poopie diaper."

"Please don't use the word poopie," he says in all seriousness, "I'll change her." Izzie is impressed that he even knows how to change a diaper. They hadn't discussed it much during the time of her pregnancy, there was so many other things they had to worry about. "Oh yeah, that is one poopie diaper." Alex catches what he just said. He didn't have to look over at Izzie to know she is laughing at him, "Dammit!" He looks to Robyn, "see what you're doing to me? Making me say poopie like that. You're grounded." He smiles as he puts the new diaper on Robyn and her crying subsides. "Do you think you could eat now, you monster?" He sits back down and starts feeding her.

"You are amazing," Izzie says.

"So are you. We can do this."

Izzie nods in agreement, "Yes we can." Alex smiles at her and she smiles back.

She knows they won't let her work today. She just knows it. As soon as they see her they will tell her to go home and take some time off. She doesn't want any time off. She just wants to do her job. Staying alone in that house will only make it worse. It used to be his house. The house she spent many lonely nights hoping he would come back. She couldn't possibly be expected to sit in that house by herself knowing that there is no hope. No he won't be coming home again.

Meredith tries to sneak into the locker room but Bailey sees her right away. "Dr. Grey, I believe you know what I am about to say."

"Please, Dr. Bailey, I can't stay there. Not today. Not alone. I just want to be here," Meredith pleads.

Bailey sighs, "Fine, but I am going to be keeping a close eye on you. If it looks like you can't do the job, I will send you home."

Meredith smiles, "Thank you, Dr. Bailey." She walks into the locker room to change into her scrubs. Cristina, George, and Alex turn towards the door when they hear it open and they are surprised to see Meredith there. Before anyone could say anything she speaks, "I just need to be here. I don't want to hear it." They understand and go back to getting ready for the day.

Meredith takes her spot next to Cristina. Cristina gives her a devilish grin before saying, "So the man can cook."

"Yes he can."

"You're going to keep him right?"

"I don't really know what's going on between us."

"The man slept in your bed last night. What does it matter? Claim him now before someone else does, Mer."

"Keep him? Claim him? He's not a dog or a piece of land, Cristina," Meredith says as she closes her locker door almost laughing at the absurdity of the conversation.

"True, but he is man candy…and a man whore at that. He's not going to stick around forever."

"This is ridiculous, you're now telling me to go out with a man who won't stay with me."

"Meredith, that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is that if you wait, you will lose him."

"I tried, remember? And he turned me down. If he wants me he will have to tell me because I am done chasing him."

"Your stubbornness is going to get you nowhere. This is McSteamy we are talking about." Meredith opens her mouth to say something but closes it back up. As crazy as it sounded Cristina was right. Mark obviously is having a problem getting his feelings across and she will not stand by and waste an opportunity to have something with him. Sleeping next to him felt so right. She felt safe in his arms. He did take her pain away just by being there. Now is the time to make him admit that she is what he wants. It is time.


	32. Chapter 32

For the past week her mother has been calling her non stop. Questions, questions being asked about everything she didn't want to talk about. She already has so much on her mind and then she has her mother nagging, nagging about why her and Mark aren't together anymore. Allison did not wish to talk to anyone about it anymore, especially not her mother. The woman adores Mark. She doesn't adore just Mark, she adores the relationship Allison and Mark once had. At one time it was something to adore. People were jealous over the wonderful way Mark treated Allison. Things changed. Mark changed when his already absent father died suddenly of a heart attack. He had asked Allison to marry him which was expected. Everyone who knew them knew it was meant to be and it was only a matter of time. They thought everything was perfect and everything was perfect until the night before the wedding when Mark slept with Addison.

Allison turns to Derek who must have been standing in the doorway of her office for at least 5 minutes and moves her hand in a talking motion to signal that her mother is once again yapping her ear off about something. Derek laughs to himself and sits down to wait for her. Allison continues, "Listen, mother, my boss is in my office so I have to get going. I will talk to you about all of this when you get here." She rolls her eyes as her mom continues talking then finally hangs up the phone, "The woman is impossible, Derek."

"Lying to your own mother? Shame on you," he teases.

"You're practically my boss. Richard is retiring within the next month or so. It's not lying. She won't leave me alone about Mark."

"She'll learn to accept it one of these days."

"I'm not so sure. Especially since Mark is Josh's father." She puts her head in her hands. "This birthday party is going to be a nightmare. My parents and his mother together, I can't wait."

Derek stands up and kisses her on the forehead, "You're going to do great. All you need to worry about is keeping your little one happy. Screw everyone else."

"Easy for you to say, all you have to do is eat the food and stand there."

"Ouch, that hurts, Ally. See if you get any Derek loving tonight."

"Oh no, anything but that," Allison says sarcastically. "Don't you do any work anymore?"

"I took my lunch time to see you and this is the thanks I get." Derek puts a pouty face on.

Allison stands up and walks towards him. She puts her arms around his waist. She says in a sexy voice, "I have better ways of thanking you but I don't think they'd be appropriate for work."

He clears his throat and smiles, "WELL, I will see you later then." He quickly leaves the room before he takes her right there in the middle of her office. He didn't even discuss what he went in there to talk about. Damn that woman for being so distracting. He will just have to figure out his problem for himself. Should he say anything to Meredith about Thatcher or just leave her alone? He wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure if they were friends anymore. All he knew is that it would be the right thing to do. He just doesn't want to upset her. Ever since he got caught sleeping with Allison she was the only friend he has and sometimes she could be a little distant. He sighs as he stands outside Mark's office's closed door. He motions to knock on the door but at the last moment has second thoughts. No, Mark won't help. Nobody will. 

Just as Derek is turning to walk away from Mark's office Meredith is walking towards Mark's office. Not seeing each other, they walk right into each other. "I am so sorry," they both say. Derek rubs the back of his head. It's now or never, Derek, do the right thing.

"I'm sorry about your dad," Derek says. He needed to say it. Deep down inside he hoped they could still remain friends but he doubted that would ever happen. He recalls the last time they tried to be just friends, it didn't go well at all.

"Thank you, Derek, I am sure you heard of my little outburst."

"Everyone is allowed to act that way when a parent passes away, even absent parents."

"Is Mark in there?" she asks as she points to the closed door.

"I don't know," he sheepishly says, embarrassed he was too scared to knock on the door.

"Oh I just thought…"

"I was too scared to finish knocking. I don't think he would want to talk to me." Meredith starts laughing. "What? What's so funny?" She puts her hand over her mouth to try to stop herself but she continues to laugh. "Stop laughing at me, it's not funny."

Meredith finally composes herself. "You scared of Mark is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Thanks I needed that."

"I am glad you feel better over my embarrassment. Believe me, I am not proud of it."

"You shouldn't be," she teases.

"Thanks."

"Well I should go see if he's in there," she says as she motions towards the door.

"Yeah, I was heading home anyway," he says as he motions to the elevator.

"Wow, someone got a nice short day today."

"It's good to be the almost chief." He smiles, "Good luck in there, Mer." He turns around and heads towards the elevator.

Meredith takes a deep breath and knocks on the door. Part of her hoped he wasn't in there. She hoped that she could put this off a little longer to conduct all her thoughts. Just as she was about to turn to walk away he opens the door. She walks in and closes the door behind her. Mark sits down at his desk and puts his feet up. "What can I do for you?" he says as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"Many things," she says with a flirty smirk on her face. "I came here to do one specific thing though."

"And what would that be?"

She walks over to where he sits and puts her face just inches from his and says, "This." She grabs his face and kisses him. He runs his fingers through her hair and kisses her back. He leans further back on his chair and she straddles him. "I have been waiting for so long for this."

"Oh God, I want you," he says as he tugs on her scrub pants. She continues to kiss him harder and more passionately.

"We can't, not here," she says through breaths.

"It's too late," he says as he lifts her scrub top over her head. She stops him from going any further.

"Mark, I can't do this again. Not if you're going to push me away like last time. If you're ready to have me, I mean all of me and if you're willing to give yourself then we can continue but if not then I am walking away right now. It's your choice that you need to make in this moment because I am not putting myself out there again. So take it or leave it."

"I want you, all of you. In return I want to give you me, all of me. I won't push you away this time, I have learned my lesson. It killed me the last time to do so but I was trying to protect you from me. I see things differently now." He wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer and harder onto his erection that is poking through his scrubs. "We can talk about this later, I promise. Right now I need you." He runs his fingers through her hair and pulls her close. He whispers softly into her ear, "I need to be inside you, Meredith." He thrusts his pelvis a little to push his erection further up on her. She opens her mouth to let out a moan but she stays quiet. If anyone heard them they would be in big trouble.

She pushes her scrub pants from her waist to her ankles. She doesn't waste time taking them all the way off and lets them fall to the floor. She is too horny for that. She pulls Mark's scrub pants down and gets back on top of him. "Oh please just do it already," she cries out. He smiles and pulls his hard cock out of his boxers. He pushes her silk panties to the side and pulls her down hard on him with both hands on her ass. She cries out in pleasure and he can't help but moan. It feels so good to be inside her again.

It's time. The room is prepared. Everyone in the house is anticipating. They all managed to get the day off for the day Izzie comes home with the triplets. That day is today. Meredith rushes from room to room making sure everything is spotless. George and Mark hang the banner in the living room that reads "Welcome Home Danielle, Robyn, and Andrew." Cristina is lounging on the couch not wanting to be apart of it. Every once in a while she peaks out of the curtains to see if Alex's car pulls up. Three bassinets sit in the living room waiting for the babies. Meredith plops down next to Cristina on the couch and they wait.

At the hospital Addison is going over the last bit of information with Alex and Izzie before they are on their way. "You can always call me if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask for help," Addison says as she carries the baby carrier to the car. Alex holds the other two carriers, one in each arm. A nurse pushes Izzie in a wheelchair behind them.

"Thank you so much, Dr. Montgomery," Izzie says as she gets up out of the wheel chair and gets into the passenger seat of the car.

Addison puts the first car seat into the car and secures it. She reaches out for the other one and Alex hands it to her. "You may need to look into getting a wider car," Addison teases. Alex laughs. They get the last baby secured into the car. Addison waves as Alex gets in the car and they drive off. Alex looks lovingly at Izzie and she shoots him dirty look.

"What? What did I do?" Alex asked, confused.

"We are never having sex again. I am in so much pain right now," she snaps. He can't help but smile. "It's not funny, Alex."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just look in the back seat and honestly tell me that they're not worth it."

Izzie looks into the back where her three children are sleeping in their car seats. She looks up at Alex with a big smile on her face. "You're right, it is worth it….You'll just have to wear a condom."

"Oh man!" he playfully whines.

They pull up to the house slowly. Cristina spots them from down the street, "they're coming!"

George goes outside to help with anything that he can. Meredith looks to Mark who is standing next to her smiling. "What?" he asks.

"Go help or something."

"Help with what? O'Malley went out there."

"There are three babies, Mark, plus Izzie is still in a lot of pain. Go help!" She nudges him in the back to push him along. He finally goes outside to help. When Mark gets outside Alex has two baby carriers in each arm and George has the other, nobody is helping Izzie out of the car. He rolls his eyes and goes over to them.

"Listen, Karev, give me the girls and you help Stevens into the house. Didn't your mother ever teach you any manors?" Mark says as he takes the two carriers from Alex. Robyn and Danielle start crying.

Alex laughs, "See, Sloan, my girls are smart." They all walk into the house together. Izzie and Alex go first and Mark and George follow them with the babies. Izzie sits down in a chair to relax. Alex places each baby in a bassinet. "Sloan woke them up from their nap, hopefully they'll go back to sleep."

"Karev doesn't get to eat the meal I cooked," Mark says to Meredith, "he can have leftovers."

They all sit down to eat after the babies are fed, changed, and put to bed. Mark made lasagna and sausage for dinner. After dinner Mark and Meredith wash the dishes as Alex and Izzie set up their room for the babies and for themselves. Cristina leaves and Georges goes upstairs to bed. When they are alone Mark finally speaks up, "I am not sleeping here tonight."

"What? Why not?" Meredith asks, disappointed.

"I know what it's like to have one new born, I couldn't even imagine what 3 will be like and I don't plan on finding out either. I'm sorry, Mer, I need to sleep."

"Oh God."

"You didn't even think about that when you offered them to stay, did you?" he says with a smirk. He knows he shouldn't laugh but it is quite comical to him and quite adorable. She silently shakes her head no. "Good luck with that." He dries the last dish and puts it away. "I will see you tomorrow at work. Hopefully you'll be awake." He kisses her lightly and leaves.


	33. Chapter 33

They were used to not getting much sleep. They were doctors after all. They have gone days without sleeping just for a glimpse of the inside of an OR. Sleep deprivation should be no problem for the seasoned interns and yet 3 new born babies brought them to their knees. Meredith realizes why Mark would not sleep over. She doesn't blame him, she is mad he didn't ask her to join him. She had no idea it would be like this. This cannot be the way it is. This cannot be the way it will be. George slowly creeps into Meredith's room and drops down on the bed next to her. "Are the triplets 18 yet?" he mumbles under his breath. He slams his head into the pillow.

Meredith looks next to her to see George sleeping in her bed. How did he get there? She doesn't even remember him walking into the room. She sits up and rubs her eyes. She still can't open them half way. She looks down at George and lightly slaps his back to wake him up. He slowly rises from the pillow, his hair is a total mess sticking up every which way. "When did you get here?" Meredith sleepily asks.

"I don't know, it's all a blur," George replies as he stands up, "Your room is further from theirs, I am sure that was my reasoning."

"Do we really have to go to work today?" Meredith says as she pulls her blankets up over her bent knees.

"Come on, get up, Mer. We should start getting ready." George walks out of the bedroom and into the bathroom to take a shower.

Over the course of the night Alex did most of the taking care of the babies. It will be what he does every night once Izzie goes back to work. Izzie will work at night and Alex will work during the day. He wakes up from his last nap to feed them for the last time before going to work. He looks at all 3 of his children lying in their bassinets and for the first time wishes he didn't have to go to work. "I don't want to leave you guys," he says in a whisper so he doesn't wake Izzie up. Andrew starts to whimper so Alex picks him up and holds up. The little whimper coming from her son was enough to wake Izzie up.

"Why don't I take them and you get ready for work?" He just looks at her. He doesn't want to get ready for work. He doesn't want to leave her there alone. He doesn't want to be away from his kids. He wants to see them every second of their lives. He doesn't want to miss one moment. "You have to."

"I know." He hangs his head and walks out into the hallway to wait for George to finish in the bathroom.

Between Thatcher dying and the triplets being born Cristina didn't have much time to plan for her wedding. It's not like she wants to anyway. Burke won't let her put it off any longer. "We have to at least set a date, Cristina," Burke says as they are scrubbing in. "You know how my mother gets."

"I know, Burke, it's just a lot has been going on. I don't know why we have to have a big wedding anyway."

"I'm not worried about the size as much as I would at least like to have a date set by the end of the week." His tone says that he isn't suggesting they make a date but demanding a date.

"Ok fine, tonight, we'll talk about this tonight. We will set a date tonight."

"Good." They walk into the OR to begin the operation.

She knew he had a wife, she had met her when they came in for help. She knew he had moved on with someone else and started a new family. She knew he loved this family more than he ever loved her. She never thought in a million years this family would be standing before her eyes again. "You want me to go to the funeral?" Meredith says in shock.

"Well he is your father," Susan replies.

"He is not my father. I don't have a father," Meredith snaps back. This is not what she needed. Not today. Not ever. "Listen, I am sure you are nice people but I can't deal with this. As far as I'm concerned, my father died 20 years ago."

Susan looks to her two daughters and they look back at her and then to Meredith. "We understand. The offer is there if you decide to change your mind." Without saying anything else Meredith turns around and walks away from them.

Meredith walks into the locker room where Alex is sulking in his locker. Taping pictures of the triplets on the inside of the locker door, he sighs. George is napping on the bench, already in scrubs. He wasted no time getting dressed so he could get what ever sleep in that he could. Meredith looks around for Cristina. She needed to confide in her best friend. The shock of Susan and the girls showing up the hospital was still pulsing through her body. She is nowhere to be seen, where is she?

"Yang is in surgery," Alex says as he notices Meredith scanning the locker room.

"Oh…Thanks." She heads to her locker to get her scrubs on for the day. She rests her head on the open door of the locker and wonders how long she could sleep standing up before Bailey came in to torture them. She doesn't know how much more sleepless nights with the triplets she will be able to handle.

"Listen, Mer, I want to thank you for letting Izzie and I stay at your place with the babies. I know they kept you up all night. I am working on a better arrangement."

"Take all the time you need. It's not a problem." Did she really mean that? She almost wanted to slap herself immediately after the words flew out of her mouth. She wanted to be selfish just this once. She couldn't. They are her friends. They need her. The truth is that she will miss them when they go.

Derek walks into the hospital wearing a suit and tie. As he walks through the halls he is turning heads where ever he goes. Both the men and the woman turn to check out the handsome doctor in the even more handsome suit. They're used to him in scrubs and a lab coat, not a suit and tie. Mark spots him and cannot help but laugh. "I guess her parents are going to be town, I haven't seen that suit in forever," Mark says through his huge smile.

"I don't know how I get myself into these messes. I never thought I'd have to impress them all over again."

"This is their baby girl. Don't think that suit is going to help your cause at all. You should know Frank by now. Anne is easy, but Frank…he won't budge when it comes to Allison, believe me I know."

"Oh god, I know too. Why are they coming so early anyway? The party is next week."

"To torture you," Mark teases, "They probably want to spend time with Josh. They could take care of him during the day instead of that baby sitter."

"So we're getting along." Derek couldn't help but notice they were actually having a normal conversation. A conversation where there is smiling and joking and no more awkwardness.

"We might as well. We're going to be seeing a lot of each other."

"I suppose we are. Well, I am going to get the full inspection from her highness before heading to the airport." Derek starts to walk away.

"So whipped," Mark mumbles.

Derek turns back around, "I remember a certain somebody driving to Atlantic City to pick up certain mother and aunts because they had missed the last bus back. I wonder who that was….oh that's right, it was you." It was Derek's turn to smile big.

"Touché, my friend, touché."

Derek continues walking to Allison's office. He knocks on the door to get her attention as he walks in. She looks up from her computer and can't help but smile. "I must say you look amazing," she says as she leans on her elbows.

"Do you think it will win them over?"

"Them who? The board? You've already gotten the job, Derek."

"Don't tell me you don't remember." Silence from Allison. "Think, Ally, what is next week? What have we been talking about for the past month now?"

Allison's eyes go wide as the light bulb goes off in her head. "Oh crap, I thought that wasn't until next Friday. Why are they coming so early?"

"I don't know, Ally, but I have to go get them. Do I look ok?"

"You look amazing. I want to do naughty things to you," she teases, "No seriously though, you look perfect. Don't let them scare you. It's not like you're just meeting them for the first time."

"I know but this is you and I am me. I am not Mark. I am the asshole who left their daughter for the slutty intern. I am the one who they hate because we are protecting Addison for some reason. I am petrified."

"Well you look good. Knock 'em dead, tiger. My just put them in my guest bedroom and lock the door." Derek laughs as he leaves. He wants to make the perfect impression on them. What he has planned to ask them depends on everything going perfectly. Knowing his luck and their family he knows it's going to be a disaster. He takes a deep breath as he leaves the comfortableness of the hospital and into the parking lot to his car.

On call room, she needs an on call room. Waiting for her labs to come back Meredith decides to try to catch up on any sleep that she can. Bailey is stuck in surgery with the chief. She will never notice Meredith isn't on the floor. She looks both ways before quickly opening the door and closing it on the other side. "Guess I picked the right on call room." She quickly turns around to see Mark on the top bunk lying on his stomach facing her.

"Listen, Mark, I need sleep. I'm running labs today so I thought I could just get a nap in without anyone noticing." She starts rattling off any excuse that comes to her head. He just quietly lies there and listens.

"Come on, Mer, don't forget who you're talking to here. You don't need to make excuses up to me. How were the babies last night?"

Meredith lies down on the bottom bunk. "Remind me never to have children. I don't know how much more I can take. Then I told Alex to take his time. I am an idiot."

"It gets better. You should try ear plugs. That's what Addison used when Josh was over when she was. Get some for O'Malley too…no actually he needs the practice. Make him suffer."

"You're bad. What are you doing in here anyway? I thought you were getting a great night sleep in your comfortable bed and quiet apartment."

"The fire alarm kept going off every hour last night so we had to keep going outside. I almost wished I would've stayed over with the triplets from hell."

"It serves you right for leaving me alone to suffer like that. You know about karma and how it's a bitch and all that nonsense."

"Oh yes I do. As we lay here Derek is on his way to the airport in a suit and tie trying to impress the Montgomery's. I almost wish I would've asked to go with him just to see."

"Thank god you don't have to go through that."

"Speaking of meeting the parents, um, are you going to go to Josh's party? I would really like you to go."

"Do you really think it's a good idea?"

"Look, I know she isn't your most favorite person in the world but she is the mother of my son. She's just someone we have to deal with. I would really appreciate it if you were there with me."

"I am going to ask this only one time and it's not because I care or anything I just feel like I need to know. Why did you cheat on her right before your wedding?"

"I was a different person before my dad died. I started treating her differently, treating everyone differently. She stood by me, she just took it. We got into this argument. She just couldn't handle it anymore. She told me things…so many things that were true and I didn't want to believe them. I was in denial. The last thing I wanted to become was my father and I was rapidly spiraling in that direction. My anger scared her. I was supposed to be the one to take her pain away and there I was yelling at her for no reason. She told me I have become my father and I couldn't take it so I left. I needed Derek to calm me down. He always knew how. He wasn't there. Addison was there in tears. He had cancelled yet another anniversary dinner to stay at work longer. I snapped, I kissed her. I don't even remember what was going through my head when I did it. It just happened."

Meredith is speechless. She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't know how to react. Is there a right thing to respond to something like that? She feels like she should say something. He just opened up in a big way. He deserves a response. "I…"

"You don't have to say anything. It's ok. There is nothing to say. I did a terrible thing. I don't deserve to be happy. I didn't deserve her after that. It all worked out for the better though. We have each other."

"It was all worth it."

"It was."

George paces in the NICU as a pregnant Addison watches him from a rocking chair. He looks at her then back in front of him, turns, looks back at her, then in front of him again. "I want to know the sex of the baby. I can't go on not knowing anymore. This is not fair, Addison."

"This whole thing isn't fair, George, but I am dealing with it. I am the woman so I determine whether we learn the sex or not and I choose that we wait."

"Can't I just find out and you be surprised?"

"No, we did this together so we're going to find out together. That's final."

"But we aren't together! It's different."

"On this one we are, George, don't give me that. Please, this is all I ask of you is to just go with me on this one thing." He stops pacing and looks at her. She puts on her best pouty face to convince him. He smiles.

"Fine."

Addison stands up, "oh thank you, George." She throws her arms around him. He hugs her back. While they are in their embrace he can feel the baby kick him in the stomach.

"Oh my God, the baby just kicked me!" he says with excitement. "Did you feel that?"

"Of course I felt it," she teased, "Isn't it amazing?"

His gaze does not move from her belly, "It sure is."

An idiot, he feels like an idiot standing in the middle of the airport in his suit. He isn't a business man going on a trip. He isn't waiting for his wife or girlfriend to come home after a long trip away with her girl friends. He is Derek Shepherd trying to impress his girlfriend's parents. He looks down at himself one more time and rolls his eyes. "I am so pathetic," he says out loud to himself. He sees Allison's parents in the distance. He takes a deep breath, stands up straight, puts a smile on his face, and walks towards them. "Frank! Anne! It's so good to see you again."

Without missing a beat Anne says coldly, "I thought I told Allison I wanted Mark to pick me up."

Derek tries his best to keep the smile plastered onto his face. He refuses to let her break him. "Mark is in surgery so she sent me instead. Here let me get those bags for you." Derek grabs the large suitcase out of Anne's hands. "My car is just over this way." He points with his head. He can't read Frank but he knows Anne is disgusted with him. They finally get to his car and Derek opens the trunk with the remote.

"Why don't you get in, darling? Derek and I will put the bags in the trunk," Frank says. Anne smiles and gets in the back seat and Frank closes the door behind her. Frank and Derek walk to the back of the car to put the bags in. "Listen, Derek, we've known each other for a long time and I trust you but you can't blame me for being a little skeptical about your intentions with my daughter. I do apologize for the way Anne is behaving but you know how she is."

"I know how much she loves Mark. Look, I am sorry for what happened between Addison and me but this is different. If you don't trust me, at least trust Allison."

"I know the truth, Derek. I know what she did to you. I know what Mark did to you. I don't blame you for that. But you left. You ran away. You met someone. You strung Addison along when you had no business to. Then you let her go. You got back together with that intern and then you screwed her over too. Trust is something to be earned and although I do trust Allison's decisions it is my job to protect her. I will not let you off the hook just because my daughter thinks she loves you. Now let's get in the car and go pick up my grandson."

"Yes sir."

Derek gets into the driver's seat and Frank gets in on the passenger's side and they drive off. The drive to the baby sitter's is a quiet one. Nobody says anything. Derek doesn't dare put on the radio. He just focuses on the road and tries to ignore the coldness he is receiving from them. The same people who once loved him as a son. He knows, Frank knows and he still doesn't trust him. What more does he have to do? They'll never give them their blessing.

Derek pulls up to the sitter's house. He walks in alone and leaves the Montgomery's in the car. Derek knocks on the door and Jessica opens it for him. He goes inside. "Looking good today, Derek, meeting with the bosses?"

"Worse, meeting with the in laws."

"Not going too well, I take it."

"Not at all. I'm going to drop them off with Josh at Allison's and then go back to the hospital. There is no way I am going to stay there with them without her. They wouldn't want me there anyway."

"Well he just woke up from a nap so he should be good to go," Jessica says as she hands Derek the diaper bag and then Josh. Josh grabs Derek's nose and giggles. Jessica can't help but laugh. "Smart kid."

"Yeah, thanks for everything. I'll see you soon." Derek walks out to the car and opens the door on the other side of the car seat. He puts Josh into the seat and then places the diaper bag down next to him. Anne immediately focuses all her attention on Josh. She starts talking baby talk with him and he starts to laugh. Derek gets back in the car and they drive to Allison's house. When they get to the house Anne takes Josh inside and Derek helps Frank with the bags. Frank walks back outside with Derek when he gets ready to leave. "Allison has an extra car in the garage just in case you want to go out anywhere. It has a car seat so it's all set for Josh. We will be back later tonight. I have to go back to the hospital."

"Derek, I'm sorry."

"You do what you feel you need to do to protect your daughter, I get that, but I love her and nothing is going to change that." Derek doesn't wait for a response before getting into the car and driving away.

Somehow Allison lost track of just how long she was sitting in the NICU but she is pretty sure that Richard would be looking for her at any moment. She sits on a rolling chair in front of one of the babies and just stares at him. "So tiny," she finds herself saying out loud.

Addison walks in and pulls up a chair next to her. "What brings you into my neck of the woods?"

Allison sits back when she hears Addison, "Mom and Dad are here."

"What? Where? Here as in here or here as in Seattle."

"Here as in my house with my son. Derek just dropped them off."

"You made Derek pick them up? That's cruel, Ally."

"Mom wanted Mark but they need to learn to get along so I sent Derek. It just wouldn't be right to ask Mark to go."

"How is he?"

"From what Derek said mom gave it to him good, just as bitchy as ever." Allison pauses, "Addy, do you think they'll ever accept him again?"

"You know how stubborn mom is."

"I just want this party to be perfect. I don't think she is going to behave herself no matter how much I beg. And if Meredith winds up showing up with Mark I really don't want things to be awkward. They already will be, I am sure. I am just freaking out about this party."

"Don't worry, Ally, it'll all work out. And if it's a disaster he's too young to remember anyway." They both laugh.

"How was the gender talk with George?"

"He started whining right away but eventually he saw it my way."

"Yeah for now. I bet he changes his mind again."

"What did you see in him anyway?"

"Oh please, you had sex with him more than I did, you perv." They laugh.

Derek walks into the room to join them, "Am I allowed in here or is this the Annual Montgomery Sister Meeting?"

Addison starts laughing uncontrollably, "Is that a new in-law suit?"

"It's not funny, Addy!" Derek says, "Your parents are stressful. The suit did no good anyway. I might as well have shown up naked."

"They definitely wouldn't have let you into the airport naked," Allison teases. "Don't you have the day off?"

"Yeah but I am not staying at the house with them and the trailer is getting cleaned out. I figured I'd stay here all day and catch up on some paperwork."

"Why did I even offer to have them stay over? I must have been drunk because I don't even remember having a conversation with them about when they were showing up."

"You were definitely drunk that night," Derek says.

"And you didn't stop me? You ass." Allison says as she smacks him in the arm.

"Hey come on, not with the little ones watching," Addison scolds.

"I have to go back to work anyway. Thanks for listening to me bitch."

"Anytime."

Derek and Allison leave.

A knock at the door didn't wake them up. Their pages didn't wake them up. Banging on the door didn't wake them up. Cristina finally had to bribe the hot janitor to let her into the on call room. The on call room where Meredith and Mark were sleeping for at least 2 hours. Cristina bursts in and violently shakes Meredith to wake up. Meredith's yell wakes Mark up. "What the hell are you doing, Yang?" he yells.

"I'm trying to save your asses. Do you know how long you have been sleeping in here? Two hours. Bailey is about to murder you." As she says you she points to Meredith. Then pointing to Mark she continues, "And YOU! They had to reschedule your 2 o'clock. Chief Webber is going to murder you when he sees you."

"Has it really been that long?" Meredith asks as she stand up and straightens out her hair.

"YES it has. You better come up with something good or you're going to be doing rectals for the rest of the internship."

Mark jumps off the top bunk and straightens his lab coat out. He quickly leaves the room. Meredith looks to Cristina, "I can't take the babies. I didn't sleep all night because of them. She really is going to kill me isn't she?"

"Do you know what I had to do to get into this room? Why you locked the doors if you weren't going to have sex is beyond me but anyway I had to offer McCleany lunch for a month to let me in here. You will be supplying the cash for that. There is no way in hell I am."

"Sure whatever. We need to come up with an excuse."

"No, that's where you're wrong. YOU need to come up with an excuse because I am scrubbing in with Shepherd. Have fun, Mer." Cristina walks out. Meredith quickly leaves soon after to find something quick to occupy herself with before Bailey finds her.

Meredith had managed to avoid Bailey for the whole time after being woken up by Cristina. She made a deal with Mark that they would both say they were in surgery together if anyone asks. No one did. Richard was too busy in meetings finalizing his retirement. He wouldn't have noticed if the whole building crumbled around him. They all meet in the courtyard for lunch

"I can't believe you got away with this, Mer," Cristina says.

"I just hope it holds up. I can't believe that happened."

George turns to Alex, "how is Izzie doing?"

"I talked to her a few minutes ago and she said everything is going smoothly. I couldn't imagine that being the case but she sounded happy."

"I need to ask you guys a favor," Meredith begins to say. She doesn't know how to pose the question but there is no way in hell she would be going to this party alone. "Josh's birthday party is next week. You are coming with me…all of you."

"No way, Mer," Cristina says, "I have wedding planning to do."

"Oh please, you know Burke is going to be doing all the planning and you'll just be agreeing with whatever he comes up with." She notices Alex and George being quiet. "I gave you two a place to live!"

"What about me? I live with Burke," Cristina says proudly.

"You're my person! I cannot do this alone. It's going to be so awkward. His mother is going to be there!"

"Definitely not," Cristina says.

"Please. Please. Please. Please," Meredith begs.

George is the first to crack, "Fine I'll go."

Meredith turns to Alex and puts her best sad face on. "Oh come on, don't do this to me. I don't want to go." Meredith doesn't let up. "Ok ok, I'll go."

"You guys are so weak," Cristina says.

"Come on, Cristina, you have to come with me. I am going to die there without you." Cristina doesn't budge. "Mark says there is going to be drama like you could not believe." Cristina slowly turns to Meredith's direction.

"What kind of drama?"

"Allison's mom wants Mark and Allison to be together and let's just say she keeps her opinion known." Meredith knows Cristina could not turn down a good awkward situation. There is no way she could say no after that.

Cristina rolls her eyes. "Fine we will go with you to the train wreck birthday party."

"Thank you so much."

"Yeah whatever but if it doesn't get interesting quick, I am leaving."

Meredith just laughs. There is no doubt in her mind that this party will be an interesting one. Her plan is just to stay out of the way and find somewhere they couldn't be bothered. She is only going to make Mark happy. He didn't say anything about actually talking to anyone. The truth is she is horrified about meeting Mark's mom. She never had to worry about meeting parents before. This would be her first encounter and she is sure it will not be a pleasant one.

Miracle. It was like a miracle that Izzie got all three babies to sleep at the same time. She lies down on the bed to try to take a nap while she could but she can't fall asleep. She is too excited. She wants to watch them. She actually would rather watch her babies sleep than sleep herself. She had just gotten off the phone with Alex when stubborn Andrew finally closed his eyes. She situates herself at the edge of the bed and watches her babies sleep for a good 5 minutes before she passes out. So much for watching them sleep all day.

Like clockwork all three babies start whaling just on schedule to be fed. Izzie slowly sits up and winces as the pain in her neck shoots down her spine. She fell asleep in such an awkward position that she says to herself she will get Alex to give her a massage as soon as he gets home. One by one she takes each baby down stairs and into the living room so she could get their formula prepared. Andrew is the only one to stop crying once in his mother's arms. Danielle and Robyn keep crying until they have the bottle in their mouths.

As Izzie feeds the last baby she looks around the living room at all the baby stuff that had accumulated. She couldn't imagine Meredith being completely ok with it all. She looks down at Danielle who I going to town on her bottle and says, "We're going to have to talk to daddy about moving into our own place. Aunt Meredith is going to get sick of us soon." Danielle stops eating and lets out a burp. "I will take that as a "good idea, mommy.""

Allison begins to pack up her things to get ready to go home. Derek is in her office finishing up the last of his paperwork. The mood is tense and nobody is saying a thing. She stands up to leave the room for a moment. Derek looks up from his paperwork to watch her leave then looks back down at his paperwork. She walks back in the room and sits down at her desk. She watches Derek until he looks up and catches her watching him. "You're really not staying over tonight?" she asks almost in a whining voice.

"I don't think it would be a good idea…not while they're still here. I don't sleep over all that often anyway, this will be no different."

"I can't handle them all by myself."

"They're your parents, Ally, and they hate me so I will be no help. Come on, we will make some dinner at the trailer before you go home." Derek really doesn't want to be away from here but there is no way he would stay there with the Montgomery's there. He wants as little contact with them as possible. He doesn't want to screw anything up more than it already is. He had thought about staying there and showing them just how much Allison means to him. He knows it wouldn't work. They will never accept him again, it's clear.

They each go to their cars and drive to Derek's trailer. The place looks immaculate. The cleaners did an awesome job. He smiles as the wine he asked them to set out is sitting on the table with two wine glasses on either side of the table. "Surprises around every corner, I see," she says. She can't help but smile. Everything looked great.

"I'm going to grill up some chicken. I figured we could take advantage of your parents over and have a nice quiet dinner together." They both walk outside. Derek fires up the grill and Allison sits on a chair and watches him. Every once in a while Derek would look at to her and smile and she'd smile back. He could get used to this, cooking for her. He just hopes she feels the same.

After they eat Allison glances down at her watch and her smile turns into a frown. Derek frowns when Allison frowns. She looks up at him, "It's getting late, Derek."

"I was afraid that would be coming soon. Do you want me to walk you over?"

She motions to her car, "I drove here, I should drive back."

"I'll walk you to your car then." She smiles and they walk to her car. They stop when they get to the driver's side door. She leans on her car and faces him. He stands in front of her and just looks at her. He takes her all in so he could have something to think about for the lonely night in the trailer. He leans in and kisses her gently. She wraps her arms around him like she would never let him go. He does the same to her. They intensify the kiss but only for a moment. They know where this road would lead them if they continued.

"I'm going to miss you tonight, Derek," she whispers into his ear as she hugs him once more. It pained him that she had to go but at the same time she had just opened up. It isn't like her to let herself be so vulnerable…even still with him.

"Me too. I will see you at the hospital." He opens the door for her to get in. If he hadn't they probably would have stayed out there all night trying to say goodbye.

She goes to get in but then steps back out. "Derek…" he turns around and walks back towards her. She hugs him one last time for the night. She looks up at him and into his eyes, "I love you."

Derek smiles, "I love you too."

Without saying another word she gets into her car and drives home. Derek walks back to his trailer with no doubt in his head that she wants what he wants. He saw it in her eyes. Now all he has to do is find the right moment…the perfect moment.


	34. Chapter 34

The alarm goes off freakishly early for their day off. Meredith groans and slams her fist hard down on the alarm clock. She looks next to her at Mark who is still sleeping like a baby. A devilish grin crosses her mouth as she contemplates not waking him up and going back to sleep. Mark opens one eye and looks at her. "What?" he asks. She looks at him quickly not noticing he had awoken the sound of his voice startled her.

"What, what?"

"Why are you looking at me like you're going to kill me in my sleep?" he replies as he sits up.

"I was just thinking. It's nothing. Do we really have to wake up this early?" Meredith says as she lies back down in the bed. She knows why they have to wake up. She just hates the reason. She had been dreading the day of the birthday party for months and the day has finally arrived and she is not ready for it.

"I have to wake up this early. You don't have to come set up with me but I really do have to be there. Plus I have to pick up my mother at the airport and I am sure you don't want to be around for that mess. Just meet me at Allison's later." Mark kisses her softly on the lips and gets up from the bed to take a shower.

The sounds of babies crying fill the whole house. Meredith gets up from the bed and walks into Izzie and Alex's room. Alex is half way sitting when Meredith waves him off. George joins them and picks Andrew up. Meredith picks up Robyn and they walk into George's room. "Getting your practice in?" Meredith teases.

"What about you? Getting the baby fever?" He laughs as he rocks Andrew back and forth to quiet him down.

"Not hardly. I just want to give them a break," Meredith says as she puts Robyn up to burp her. Meredith puts Robyn back down on her lap and smiles at her.

"You so have the fever. I know that look, Mer. Just wait until Addison has the baby. You won't be able to escape it."

"Don't remind me. I should start charging an extra baby fee."

"So today's the party," George says.

Izzie steps into the room to get the babies ready to feed them. "What party?"

"Josh's birthday party is today. We're all going," George explains as he hands off Andrew to Izzie.

"What? Nobody told me about it." Izzie pouts. "I want to go with you."

"What about the triplets?" Meredith asks.

"I'll just bring them with us. Come on, Mer, please. I need to get out of the house. I have been cooped up in here forever," Izzie pleads.

"Ok fine you can come. I haven't told Mark everyone is coming but I don't think he will mind."

Mark walks passed the room and stops in the doorway. He waves goodbye to everyone and leaves. They walk out of the room and down to the kitchen to feed the babies. Alex soon follows with Danielle in his arms. Id had been a week since the triplets came home and everyone has pitched in to help when they can. The babies are all on the same schedule which makes it easier on Alex and Izzie. Alex and Izzie look to each other in a silent understanding that soon they will not have the help of their friends.

Allison wakes up bright and early to start setting up for the party. Luckily for her it's shaping up to be a sunny day. She takes a walk out onto her back deck and looks out into the property next to hers. There Derek's trailer sits with sleeping Derek inside it. She wishes he was there with her in that moment but he pulled an all nighter at the hospital in order to be able to get the day off for the party so he is sleeping all morning. She knows Mark would be over soon but it isn't the same. Part of her wishes her and Mark could have made it work for the sake of Josh and having a family. She was too stubborn when he tried to take her back. All of that is the past now and she's with Derek so she pushes those thoughts out of her head and begins setting up tables and chairs outside.

When Mark pulls up to the house he knows exactly where Allison will be so he heads out to the backyard. He walks around the side of the house so he doesn't have to deal with Anne and Frank. When Mark gets out to the backyard Allison is setting up Josh's toys so he will have something to play with when they are out there. He slowly walks over to her so he doesn't startle her. She sees him and smile and they hug hello. "What do you need me to do?" Mark asks.

"Can you help me get the grill from the garage? I haven't used it since I bought it so it's still in there where we left it."

"You mean to tell me you are going out with Derek Shepherd, grill master, and you haven't used the grill once in 3 months?" Mark teases as they make their way around to the garage.

"When we are in my house I do the cooking and you know how much I like to cook pasta dishes."

"No wonder he looks like he's been putting on weight." Allison smacks him in the arm but can't help laugh at Mark's joke. She knows it isn't true because she works out with Derek almost every day and he's looking fitter than ever.

"You're just jealous because he's starting to tone up."

Mark lets out a loud belly laugh, "Ha! Don't make me laugh. Don't forget who you are talking to, my dear."

"You got me there but still, he's working on it." They make it to the garage and Allison opens the door. The grill sits in the back of the garage with the cover on it just as they had left it when he helped her bring it in when she bought it. The problem is Derek was there to help him last time. Mark is worried that Allison may not be able to handle the weight.

"Maybe we should wait for Derek. I don't want you lifting this. It's too heavy."

"Derek is sleeping and won't be here until later and there is no way I am waking up my father. Let's just wheel it to the steps of the deck and lift it up the stairs. I will be ok. Have you held your son lately? It's almost the same thing." Mark chuckles and they start wheeling the grill over to the steps of the deck. Mark counts off to three and they lift the grill. It isn't nearly as heavy as Mark thought it would be and they carry it up the stairs with ease. They roll it across the deck to where Allison wants it and they sit down for a moment to take a rest. "I think that's about it besides setting out the food but I don't want to do that until right before people start coming."

"No we're not done yet. We still have a few things to get ready. Stop being lazy and come on, Ally."

"I'm not being lazy, everything else that needs to be done is required to be done inside and they're in there and I really don't want to deal with the Mark worshipping so early in my day. Can't we just sit out here and talk?"

"About what? I didn't wake up this early to talk. I came here to help you set up. Now I know you have so much more planned then a grill so let's just do it and we can talk later."

"You're right. Let's go. When do you have to pick up your mother from the airport?"

Mark's eyes go wide and he stops in his tracks. "Oh crap, I forgot! I will be right back, I promise." Mark rushes out to his car and speeds off. Allison laughs to herself as she sits down and enjoys the silence before the madness begins.

The silence is interrupted by the quiet whimpers of her son. She looks to her left to see her father standing in the doorway with Josh in his arms. Frank takes a step out onto the deck and sits in the chair next to her. Josh reaches for her and starts making a fuss so she stands up and picks him up. He rests his head on her shoulder and puts his tiny arms around her neck. "Happy Birthday, sweetie," she says into his ear as he falls back asleep. Frank smiles at his daughter and his grandchild and the bond that they have. He is reminded of when she was that young and the same bond they had.

"I tried talking sense into your mother last night."

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?" Allison asks bitterly. She knows there is no changing her mother's mind about anything she sets her mind to. Anne listens to nobody but herself.

"Terribly," he says with a chuckle, "I should have known better."

"She's going to make a scene isn't she?" Allison's fear is that she would make a big deal about how she and Mark belong together. She could handle that but she wasn't so sure about Meredith. The last thing she wants is any more bitterness between her and Meredith, there is plenty of that already.

"I don't know, I hope she can compose herself for just a few hours for your sake and everybody else's."

"I'm going to have Mark's girlfriend over. She doesn't deserve whatever mom has to dish out. She can talk to me all she wants about how she wants Mark and me to be together. Meredith doesn't need that. She's a good person."

"What about Derek? She already gave it to him pretty good last week."

"All Derek wants to do is make me happy. He makes me happy. That should be all that matters. He worked all day and night last night just so he could be here today. Josh isn't even his son. He did it for me. Doesn't that count for anything?"

Frank runs his fingers through his salt and pepper hair and down over his face. He wants to avoid the question. He loves his daughter. He doesn't want to hurt her with the truth. She's his daughter, he can't lie. "I don't trust him Allison. There is nothing he can do that will make him regain my trust. Nothing."

Speechless. She wasn't expecting that, not from him. She expected for him to understand. The one person she would go to when her mother didn't give her what she wanted. Daddy was always there for her. He was always on her side. How could he think that about Derek? Doesn't anybody see how hard he is trying to prove himself? Her own father betrayed her. She can't look at him. She doesn't want to be there with him. She doesn't say a word when she stands up and walks away leaving Frank sitting on the deck all alone in his thoughts. With a free hand she wipes away the tears that start to flow. She can't cry, not on his special day. She will have to deal with this later. The doorbell rings. She walks to the door to open it and tries as hard as she can to keep a smile when she sees who is at her door. The day has just started yet it's turning out to be quite a disaster.

Allison opens the door expecting Mark and his mother to be standing before her. Instead it's the not so smiling faces of Meredith, George, Cristina, Alex, Izzie, and three sleeping babies. Allison keeps the smiles he had plastered on her face nice and wide as she steps aside to let the group into her home. "Hey guys, it's nice to have you. Mark just went to pick up his mom," Allison says as she guides them into the living room. They all reluctantly follow her.

"I thought he was picking her up on the way here," Meredith says. The interns all take a seat on various couches and chairs Allison has set up in the living room.

"Don't tell him I told you this but he forgot to," Allison says in a low tone. Meredith can't help but sneak out a smile. Allison smiles too and then begins laughing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh. I don't know if Mark told you or not but his mother, aside from my own, is probably the last person on earth you would want to forget picking up from the airport." There is an awkward silence. Allison had tried to lighten the mood but no one was biting. None of them even look like they want to be there. "The kitchen is right in the other room and I have drinks set up in there if you're thirsty help yourselves."

Allison begins to walk back out onto the deck when the sounds of someone clearing their throat makes her stop in her tracks and turn around. Only one person could clear their throat in such a way that you hear disappointment in their tone. "Don't be so rude, Allison, introduce me to your friends."

Allison points to each person as she says their name, "That's George, Meredith, Cristina, Alex, Izzie, and their triplets Danielle, Robyn, and Andrew." Anne studies each of them with her eyes not moving much as she looks at each one of them.

"Which one is Mark's whore?" Anne asks as she turns to Allison. George chokes on his water and spits it up.

"Excuse me?" Meredith yells.

"Mother, if you can't treat my friends with respect then I will ask you to leave," Allison says.

"My my, turning into Maddison every day it seems, Allison," Anne retorts.

"Just go outside with dad, I don't want to see either one of you right now," Allison yells. Josh wakes up but he doesn't cry. Allison rubs his back and he rests his head back down on her shoulder. Anne cannot believe her daughter would treat her like that and just walks passed Allison and out into the backyard. Allison turns back to the group of interns who all are sitting in silence. "I…I'm sorry about that. Seriously. I tried so hard to get her to behave. My father tried too. I'm just sorry for everything. I don't expect you to forgive me or my mom for what she just said but I am truly sorry. I don't expect us to be friends or anything but at least we could try just getting along. I know the things I have done to you are unforgivable but there is not a day that goes by that I don't regret them."

Everyone looks to Meredith for her response. She doesn't say anything for a while. She doesn't react. She is unsure what she should say. "You're right. Taking Derek from me the way you did is unforgivable." Allison and the others wait for the rest of the sentence but there is none. That was the end of it and it leaves everyone feeling as awkward as ever.

Allison walks with Josh out onto the front porch to wait for more people to arrive. She sits on the swinging bench with him and he starts to laugh and they swing back and forth. She so consumed in being in that moment that she doesn't notice when Mark and his mom walk up the front stairs. She finally looks up and sees them watching her. She immediately stops swinging to stand up and give Mark's mom a hug. Mark takes Josh from Allison.

"It's so good to see you again, Jennifer. My mother and father are out back," Allison says as they pull away from their hug. She turns to Mark, "Meredith is here. So is everyone else. I didn't know they were all coming, Mark. I hope I have enough food."

"I didn't either. And you have plenty of food. Don't worry about it. It's going to be great."

"Mom called Meredith a whore."

The smile on his face quickly goes away. "Why doesn't that surprise me? Well I have to do some damage control. I'll see you later, Ally." Mark walks in and is followed by Jennifer and Allison sits back down to wait for others.

When they get inside Mark's mom doesn't follow Mark into the living room where the interns still sit. She walks out back to join Anne and Frank. Mark knows what that means. His mother will definitely not be accepting of Meredith, especially after he was 2 hours late in picking her up. When he gets into the living room he puts Josh down and walks over to Meredith. He wraps his arms around her and leans down so that his head is on her shoulder and his mouth is right by her ear. "I am so sorry," he whispers, "I took longer than expected."

"She called me a whore, Mark. You're lucky I am still here. I thought about leaving."

"Well I'm glad you didn't. I'm going out back to get saying hi to them over with and I'll be right back." Mark kisses her and then walks out to the back porch. As soon as Anne sees him she springs up from her chair and hugs him. "Good to see you again, Anne."

"You can't be serious about that girl in there, Mark? She's not right for you." It wasn't the first thing he expected to leave her mouth but he also isn't surprised at all.

"Anne, please don't start. I am going to be civil here for the sake of Josh's birthday. Don't you think this is the wrong place for this? I love Meredith and I really don't appreciate you calling her what you did. If you continue to be like this I will cut you out of my son's life all together. You will just have to accept that this is the way it is." Mark pushes passed Anne and walks over to Frank. "Allison must be mad at you, she called you father," Mark says as he shakes hands with Frank.

"Yes she is but she will come around."

Mark leans in close to Frank and says through his teeth, "Get your wife in line, Frank, or there are going to be problems." Mark smiles and walks back inside. When Mark gets inside he sees that Jessica has arrived and she is in the living room with Meredith and the group. She's sitting on the floor playing with Josh and his toys. "Don't think I'm going to be paying you for this," he jokes.

She laughs, "Yeah, I guess it's just automatic for me. Is Allison ok? She seems kind of…"

"Stressed? Yeah she is. I think she'll calm down once the party gets going."

"I already introduced myself to everyone here. I just talked to a few parents and they should be here shortly so the house will soon be filled with little ones."

"Wonderful," Mark says as he tries to sound enthusiastic but he doesn't pull it off well. Nobody calls him out on it.

About 5 cars pull up to the house at the same time. Most of them are mothers with their children that they know from using Jessica as their babysitter. Addison is the last to get out of her car. Allison greets them all on the porch and waits for Addison to make it up the stairs before she brings them all inside and shows them where the play room is. The mother's place their kids in the play room and head out to the back porch. Addison greets the interns before making her way out back to see their parents.

They stop right before they get to the door to the deck. Addison turns to Allison, "Ally, there is something I need to warn you about…"

Before Addison can finish her sentence she hears the shrieks of her mother who is now standing in front of them. "Addison, are you pregnant?"

"You didn't tell her?" Allison mumbles.

"Who? Who is the father? It's not Derek is it?" Anne questions.

"No mom, it's not Derek's." Addison walks into the living room where the interns are sitting and talking. Addison points to George, "It's George's." The interns stop talking as focus goes to Anne and her reaction.

"Pipsqueak? You got pregnant by Pipsqueak? How could you even have sex with him?" Anne says.

"I am not having this discussion with you, mom," Addison says as she tries to bring her mom back outside before she does any more damage.

"You're not going to marry him are you?" Anne asks, not wanting to let it go.

George has had just about enough. He stands up from his seat and screams to her, "I am not a pipsqueak and Meredith is not a whore!" Addison and Anne turn back around. "No wonder your daughters are all…all…mean. Look at the example you put out. You heartless, cold, awful woman."

"Pipe down, Pipsqueak, you'll scare the children," Anne says before walking back outside.

George sits back down. Meredith just looks to Cristina who is grinning from ear to ear. "This is the best party I have ever been to," Cristina says.

Mark gets a phone call so he walks away from the group. "What the hell just happened?" Meredith says not believing any of the events that had just folded out.

"A tornado full of drama and excitement," Cristina replies, "That was amazing. Addison didn't tell her parents about the baby. You're a whore. Bambi's a Pipsqueak! It's drama overload!"

Mark walks back over. "That was Derek, he is running late so I am going to start grilling. The theory is that they won't talk while they're eating."

"Doesn't Allison's mom hate Derek?" Cristina asks. Meredith nods yes. "It just keeps getting better."

Izzie and Alex exchange glances. They had been having their own conversation while everything else was going on. Alex nods and Izzie speaks up, "Listen, Mer, I know this is really shitty timing but who knows it may lighten the mood. Alex and I got a condo."

"That's great, guys! I am happy for you. Being cooped up in that one room isn't ideal for the babies anyway," Meredith says. She really is happy for them but can't help but feel a little sadness too. She got used to Izzie and Alex and the triplets living with her. She will be looking forward to the quietness again though. Until baby O'Malley is born.

Cristina begins to look all around. "How can she afford all this?"

"She sold her business," George says.

"She had a business?" Izzie asks.

"Real Estate," Alex answers.

"How you do know?" Izzie glares at him.

Josh comes running into the living room and latches onto Meredith's leg. He starts laughing as Meredith plays with him by lifting her leg up and down. Allison enters the room and walks over to them. "Sorry about that. He had an extra long nap and he is super energized."

"It's ok. We play like this all the time."

"Come on Josh, Mommy has a surprise for you," Allison says enthusiastically.

Josh looks up at Meredith, still holding onto her leg, "Meredith!" They all look at him.

"Did he just…" Meredith starts to say.

"Meredith, he said Meredith. His first word. Meredith." Allison tries to stay calm and happy. She wants to be happy her son just said his first word. It's not the word she was hoping for or expecting. Mommy or Daddy would have been fine, but Meredith, she wants to die. She can feel her heart breaking a little bit as she tries to hold her composure. She squats down to Josh's level, "Yes very good, Josh, that is Meredith. Do you want to stay with her for a bit?" He doesn't say anything but he holds onto Meredith's leg tighter. Allison stands up and walks out of the room.

Allison walks over to Mark who is busy at the grill and buries her head into the side of his arm. Mark looks down. "What the hell are you doing, Allison?"

"I'm sorry. I thought you were Derek. I…I'm not really here right now. Where is he?" She fights the tears that are begging to be released from her eyes. She wants to blame him. It's his fault for having Josh around her all the time. She can't, that isn't fair. She wants to scream. Not in front of her family and friends.

"Are you ok?" he asks. He can tell something is terribly wrong. Mark knows all too well the look that she gets when she is fighting a break down. "Allison, what happened?" She doesn't say anything and just walks away. He can't help her, not anymore. He isn't the person to hold her in his arms to make it all ok. She needs Derek. She begins to frantically look through the sea of people in her backyard to find him but he isn't there. She runs inside and up to her bedroom. She pulls a pillow to her face and screams as loud as she can.

Mark is standing in the doorway. He had followed her up without her knowing. She looks back to him with tears streaming down her face. "Allison, talk to me please," he pleads. She shakes her head no. It all hurts too much. Derek stands next to Mark. Mark looks to see him there. "She won't talk to me."

Derek walks into the bedroom and sits on the bed next to her. Mark walks out and back outside to finish cooking. He wraps his arms around her and puts his chin on her head. "Allison, what happened?"

"It's so stupid to get upset over."

"Please just tell me so I can help you."

"Meredith. He said Meredith. My baby boy. His first word. Her. He said her name. It hurts, Derek, it breaks my heart."

"He doesn't know better. You spent so much time on this party. Don't let his get in the way of spending your son's first birthday with him. He knows who his mommy is."

"I'm just stressed out, Derek, my mother is a bitch. She's ruining this party."

"All that matters is that Josh is having a good time. He is, Ally. When I got here he ran up to me and gave me a hug. That's all that matters. He's laughing and smiling and loving every minute of this party so no, it's not ruined."

"I feel like such an idiot."

"Don't. Only Mark and I know about this, ok. Let's just get some of those famous Sloan burgers." They stand up and make their way outside to get something to eat.

When they get outside everyone is already eating and talking amongst each other. Even the interns have joined the group and are engaged in conversation with other people. Allison smiles and is happy that despite her mother and her mini break down that her party is going smoothly. Mark has Josh on his lap and is feeding him. Allison and Derek take a seat next to Mark and Meredith and begin to eat their food.

Anne looks to Izzie and Alex who are each feeding a bottle to the girls. George is helping out by feeding Andrew. "You have beautiful daughters," Anne says.

"Thank you," Izzie replies. She's waiting for a back handed comment to come next but it doesn't, not to her anyway.

Anne shouts across the way to where Allison, Derek, Mark, and Meredith are sitting, "Allison, you and Mark should try for a girl. Look how beautiful these little girls are."

Addison slams her plate down onto the table and stands up. "That is enough! I am sick of this! Mother, I am the reason Mark and Allison aren't married."

"Addy, don't," Allison says.

"Ally, shut up, I am going to do this. Derek isn't a bastard, Meredith isn't a whore, and Mark isn't perfect. The night before the wedding we slept together. That's the truth. So stop acting like Mark is God and Derek is scum and everyone else is just in the way. Things have changed and if you can't accept them then that's just really sad. You come here acting like all that matters is what you want but the truth is nobody cares."

Silence flows throughout everybody at the party. All eyes are on Addison and on Anne who is speechless for the first time in her life. She looks to Mark, then to Allison, then to Derek. She has no excuse for her actions and she feels like she owes no explanation. She finally speaks up, "Well if somebody would have told me the truth to begin with we all would have saved ourselves a lot of embarrassment, now wouldn't we?" Everyone ignores her and goes back to eating their food.

The rest of the party goes smoothly. Shortly after dinner was finished and cake was had Anne apologized to Meredith for what she had said as well as everybody else. They didn't bother staying too much longer and took a taxi to the airport. After Anne and Frank left there was definitely a lighter mood as the party winded down. Mark and the interns are the last to leave. The house is finally quiet again. Apart from the drama the party had been a huge success. Josh had no idea of all that had gone on. He was so happy running from room to room meeting new people and playing with his friends from day care. And he said his first word.

Allison and Derek finally sit down on the couch in the living room after cleaning up and putting Josh to bed. There is silence between them. It's a mutual exhaustion. Allison is leaning on one end of the couch watching TV and Derek on the other watching her. She looks to him and notices he is watching her. "What?"

He smiles. "You're beautiful."

"Looking to get lucky tonight?" she jokes.

"Something like that. Allison, I'm just going to come out and say this because I know you're not one for mushy speeches. I love you. You make me feel like nobody has ever made me feel." He shakes his head, "I almost started a mushy speech anyway. This is not going the way I wanted it to so I am just going to…will you marry me? Allison…Allison…Allison!"


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's Note: This is my final chapter. At the time I thought this ending was a great idea. I am not too fond of it just because I feel that it not do my writing justice but alas this is how I chose to end it. I have begun to write a sequel that I will be posting here once I get a few chapters written.**

"_Allison…Allison…Allison!"_

"ALLISON!"

"What the fuck do you want?" she shouts back.

"What the hell is your problem?" he says as he sits down next to her. She starts looking around the room.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"I lost count at 16 hours. Are you ok? You kind of freaked out on me for no reason."

"You know how I get when I first wake up." She rubs her eyes to be able to open them fully. She still is a little groggy. "I had the most fucked up dream. It was awesome and weird but just totally fucked up." She finally opens her eyes all the way and picks up her pillow and starts smacking him with it.

He puts up his arms in defense and tries to push the pillow away. "What has gotten into you?"

"He proposed to me and you woke me up!"

"What are you talking about, Allison? You have totally lost me."

"Remember that Grey's Anatomy marathon we had the other night? Well I had a dream that I was on the show. It was awesome. I was Addison's sister and pregnant and I got to have sex! A lot of sex with different people!"

"Well I am happy for you," he says sarcastically.

"It was so much more than that. I was pregnant and I didn't know if the baby was Derek or Mark's so we had to wait until I had the baby to see whose it was. And I dated George for a bit. Mark and I were engaged before that until Addison slept with him."

"Do you realize you're still not making any sense to me? You're rambling."

"I'm excited! And a lot happened. So anyway, the baby wound up being Mark's and he tried to get me to take him back but I wasn't having any of it. I wound up sleeping with Derek because we started to fall back in love with each other and then Meredith caught us sleeping together. She slept with Mark and Derek walked in on them and they had a HUGE fight. George got Addison pregnant."

"That's just wrong, Ally. George and Addison? Yuck."

"I know, it was kind of nasty now that I think about it. You were in it too." She stops there and takes a deep breath.

"Aren't you going to tell me what I did in this insane dream of yours?"

"You killed yourself."

"Thanks a lot. You couldn't have had me having sex with any hot chicks? You had me kill myself? And to think I call you my friend," he jokes.

"If it were up to me, you would've had sex with everyone, Gianni. Believe me, seeing you dead like that was not the highlight of the dream."

"Did we have sex?"

Allison laughs, "No we didn't."

"Then it must not have been that much of an amazing dream. You have me intrigued, what else happened?"

She tries to remember more of the dream. "The condo I bought blew up and left me homeless so I was living with Mark for a while."

"You suck at telling stories, you know that? Why couldn't you have just started from the beginning?" he teases as he pushes her in a flirty way.

"I am trying to remember everything. A lot happened, you know. Meredith and Mark wound up dating. Alex and Izzie had triplets. Cristina and Burke were going to get married. The chief was retiring and Derek was named chief. I don't know, Gianni, so many things happened and I just woke up. It's hard to remember them all. All I remember is you fucking waking me up just as I was about to get engaged to McDreamy."

"Well sorry, you were only sleeping for a whole day, lazy ass. Why don't you write it all down?"

"Yeah…I think I will."

The End.


End file.
